Music

Honey, it's our song!

Maybe she is the wind beneath your wings. And maybe everything you do, you do it for her. But do you really want Bette Midlerand Bryan Adams, respectively, to tell that special someone how you feel?
   
The wedding song is an important part of most nuptials, and award-winning Huntington Beach singer/songwriter Moses Toth can make it as personal as the affair itself. After years of performing cover songs – including “Wind Beneath My Wings” – at weddings, Toth started writing original wedding songs for couples. “Songwriting is my greatest passion and nothing comes close to the joy I get out of writing for people,” says Toth, 36, who has been writing, recording and performing original music since he was a kid.

Whether you have your own melody and lyrics, or just a vague concept (“I just want a sappy love song,” one bride told him), Toth will work with couples to compose a brand-new song that reflects their musical taste and relationship history. He can also perform the song himself accompanied by piano at the wedding, or hire other musicians for a different sound. Additional services include a video montage and a recording of the song.

Toth will work with couples to revise the song and always give them final approval of music and lyrics. However, since he makes his living as a songwriter, Toth retains the rights to your wedding song in hopes of selling it to a popular recording artist. So maybe one day Bette Midler or Bryan Adams really will be singing “your” song.

Songwriting services start at $400. For more information, call (714) 642-2020 or visit www.myspace.com/mosestoth

Sound Advice To spice up your wedding play list, Moses Toth suggests including some exotic – and romantic – international music. Here are three of his favorites. Artist: Antonio Carlos Jobim Nationality: Brazilian Genre: Bossa nova Suggested Album: Antonio Carlos Jobim and Friends “His music is so terribly romantic. I close my eyes and I can hear the calm azure waters rise and fall as I imagine myself sunbathing on a sandy beach in Brazil.” Artist: Cesária Évora Nationality: Cape Verdean Genre: Morna Suggested Album: Miss Perfumado “Her style mixes West African percussion with Portuguese and Brazilian flavors – even sea shanties. It’s soothing – pure soul aloe.” Composer: Ennio Morricone Nationality: Italian Genre: Classical Suggested Album: Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone “Sometimes his melodies pull me apart at my center, and other times they hold my fragile pieces together. Morricone wrote music for some of the most beautiful films: The Mission; Cinema Paradiso; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; and The Untouchables. This album also includes ‘Playing Love’ from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Legend of 1900.”

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