From the recording Family Portraits (Volume 1)
You know the famous idiom: "Marry in haste, repent at leisure"?
This song is something of a twist on that. But rather than agree with it; it subverts it.
The central thesis is that you might as well (marry in haste) as it's almost impossible to really know someone before you spend significant amounts of time with them (read: years).
If the idiom is negative and preachy ("Told you so!") the song is quite the opposite: it's cheerful and upbeat, saying: "Go for it!"
I am myself in a somewhat arranged marriage (my best friend told me to marry my wife saying he knew what was best for me) and he turned out to be right! :-)
So..."Marry in haste (repent with pleasure)"!
Lyrics
Marry in Haste (Repent with Pleasure)
Do you believe in love at first sight?
And might
You find yourself
Walking down the aisle
In two weeks time?
With someone you just…
…Marry in haste
Might as well
“Cos you can never tell if you know someone well
Before
You’ve spent the time finding how they tick
Tock
Goes the clock
Do you believe like I do
in “I do”
And if so
Let’s get married
Marry in haste
‘Cos anyway
You can never know someone
Until
You’ve traveled together around the sun
To a third space
Do you believe in happy ever after?
The laughter and the tears?
And in our three score years
Do you believe the whole is greater than
The sum of all parts?
Do you believe in the ending of fairytales?
And if so…
Let’s get married in haste
We have no time to waste
Marry in haste
Repent at leisure goes the phrase
But what a waste of space this phrase
It’s not as if there’s any other way
To discover each other
But time
Do you believe in “until death do us part?”
Do you believe in the power of love to mend a broken heart?
Do you believe in love?