Old Fashioned Wedding Lyrics — Annie Get Your Gun

Song Overview

"An Old-Fashioned Wedding" is the show admitting, with a wink, that Annie and Frank can agree on love while disagreeing on the paperwork. Irving Berlin wrote it late - a made-to-order addition for the 1966 Lincoln Center revival - and you can hear the purpose: this is a relationship argument turned into a party trick, fast enough to feel like banter, structured enough to land like a set piece.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Work: Annie Get Your Gun (opened on Broadway May 16, 1946) - stage musical
• What this is: a later addition, written for the 1966 Broadway revival at Lincoln Center
• Where it appears: Act II, when Annie and Frank plan marriage and discover they want different ceremonies
• Usual singers: Annie Oakley and Frank Butler

Annie Get Your Gun (1966 revision) - stage musical - not diegetic. They are not performing for Buffalo Bill's customers. They are negotiating their future, and the song turns the negotiation into music that keeps stepping on itself, in the best way.

Berlin builds the number as a quodlibet: Annie sings one tune, Frank sings another, and then they stack the two at once. It is a comic demonstration of compatibility and incompatibility in the same breath. I have seen plenty of couples fight about wedding details, but few get to do it with counterpoint.

Key takeaways

• Hook: the clash is specific - small chapel vs big public ceremony - so the comedy stays grounded
• Craft: the two-tune structure makes disagreement audible, not just stated
• Acting task: keep it playful enough that the audience hears affection under the argument

Creation History

The 1966 Lincoln Center revival revised the show heavily and added this song to Act II. That production opened May 31, 1966, and was later telecast by NBC in an abbreviated version on March 19, 1967. The number did its job so well it became sticky: it stayed in later major revivals, including the 1999 Broadway version.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

In Act II, Annie and Frank move toward marriage, but their values keep tripping each other. Frank wants simplicity. Annie wants the full public event. The song lives right in that gap: it is an argument about details that quietly reveals a bigger truth, which is that these two are still learning how to share the spotlight without turning it into a contest.

Song Meaning

The meaning is not "weddings are hard." It is "love does not erase temperament." Annie is a star who has learned to want nice things, and Frank is a professional who still distrusts fuss. The song lets them say all of that without sounding like therapy. It is courtship by negotiation, and it is funny because it is recognizable.

Annotations

The song was written for the 1966 revision and added to Act II, replacing the space once used by the Tommy-Winnie subplot.

That is why it feels like a feature. It is not only a character moment. It is a structural repair job: give Annie and Frank a fresh comic engine where supporting-couple material used to sit.

The lyric contrasts Frank's "little chapel" idea with Annie's vision of a big ceremony with attendants and press.

The writing stays smart by being concrete. You can stage "press" and "photographers." You can also stage Frank's mild panic. The audience laughs because the picture is specific, not because the emotion is abstract.

Commentators have described it as a two-melody construction that locks together in the final overlap.

For performers, that overlap is the payoff. It is also the danger zone: if diction gets sloppy, the comedy turns into noise. Crisp phrasing is not optional here.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: An Old-Fashioned Wedding
• Artist: Annie Get Your Gun cast (varies by recording)
• Featured: Annie Oakley; Frank Butler
• Composer: Irving Berlin
• Producer: varies by recording/label
• Release Date: written for the 1966 revival (opened May 31, 1966)
• Genre: musical theater; duet comedy
• Instruments: voice and orchestra (often piano-led in rehearsal)
• Label: varies (examples include Masterworks Broadway releases and later catalog licensing)
• Mood: playful, argumentative, affectionate
• Length: varies by edition; around 4 minutes on the 1966 cast recording track list
• Language: English
• Album (if any): Annie Get Your Gun (1966 Lincoln Center Cast Recording); Annie Get Your Gun (1999 Broadway cast album)
• Music style: two-melody duet that combines into a layered finish
• Poetic meter: accentual, speech-shaped comic stresses

Frequently Asked Questions

Was this in the 1946 original Broadway version?

No. It was added for the 1966 Lincoln Center revival.

Who sings it?

Annie Oakley and Frank Butler sing it as a duet.

Where does it appear in the story?

Act II, as Annie and Frank plan to marry and clash over what the ceremony should look like.

What makes the music distinctive?

It is built as a two-melody duet that combines in an overlapping finish.

Why was it written for the revival?

The 1966 revision removed the supporting-couple material, and the show needed a fresh comic feature for the leads.

Is the song usually staged as comedy or romance?

Both. The best productions treat the argument as flirtation with real stakes hiding underneath.

Did the 1966 production reach television?

Yes. It was telecast by NBC in an abbreviated version on March 19, 1967.

Is it useful for auditions?

Yes, especially for performers who can sell text and timing while staying musical in duet coordination.

What is the biggest rehearsal challenge?

The layered section: clean diction, accurate entrances, and coordinated cutoffs so the overlap reads as wit, not clutter.

Additional Info

This number is often the first thing people cite when they talk about the 1966 revival as more than a museum-piece revival. A Masterworks Broadway essay calls attention to the song's quodlibet construction and reports that audiences in Washington, DC responded so strongly that the piece drew multiple encores in performance. Whether your production treats that as legend or instruction, the takeaway is practical: play it for the house, but keep the couple honest.

The revision context matters, too. The same 1966 overhaul removed Tommy Keeler and Winnie Tate entirely, along with their songs. In that light, the duet is not only fun, it is a replacement mechanism: it keeps Act II from sagging by giving the leads a brand-new collision that feels domestic rather than competitive.

Key Contributors

How to Sing An Old-Fashioned Wedding

A major sheet-music listing is unusually helpful here: original published key is E major, the vocal range is B3 to E5, and the tempo is marked Moderato with a metronome around half note equals 90. Translation: you need clarity and partnership more than you need volume.

1. Tempo: agree on the moderato pace early. If one partner pushes, the overlap section becomes a chase scene.
2. Diction: sharpen consonants on wedding vocabulary and list phrases. The laughs are in the specifics.
3. Breath: plan refills before long list runs so you can finish punch lines cleanly.
4. Duet timing: treat entrances like dialogue cues. Watch each other, not the conductor, when the argument gets quick.
5. Counterpoint practice: rehearse the layered passage first on rhythm, then on text, then on full voice. Precision builds confidence.
6. Acting focus: play affection as the baseline. The couple is fighting about style, not commitment.
7. Pitfalls: avoid leaning into real anger. If it turns bitter, the joke disappears and the audience stops rooting.

Sources

Sources: Wikipedia - Annie Get Your Gun (musical), Musicnotes sheet music listing, Masterworks Broadway essay, YouTube label audio (1999 Broadway cast), YouTube label audio (1966 Lincoln Center cast), Apple Music track listing (1966 Lincoln Center cast)