(Sneakin' in the) Back Door of Love
(to the tune of "Chapel of Love")
Satiric adaptation, guitar and vocals by Rex Strother

Goin' down to Frisco and we're gonna get married
Gee, it could be legal and we're gonna get married
Really scare the right wing and we're gonna get married
Sneakin' in the Back Door of Love

They may rage, and they may whine
But down at the chapel, we're having a gay ol' time
If you'd stop treating our love as if it were a crime
We'll never be lonely anymore

If it doesn't work out, then we're gonna go to Boston
Depending what the courts say, we are gonna go to Boston
Really touched a sore nerve just by trying to get married
Sneakin' in the Back Door of Love

They may rage, and they may whine
And quote Leviticus until the end of time
But me and my boys, it seems that we're the marrying kind
And we'll never be lonely anymore

It isn't in the Bible, but we're gonna get married
They may try to stone us, but we're liable to get married
We don't want your blessing, we just wanna get married
Sneakin' in the Back Door
(Don't know what the fuss is for!)
Sneakin' in the Back Door of Love

Adovcacy News - Chapel of Love gets an update

March 5, 2004

Chapel of Love gets an update
Satiric adaptation inspired by anti-gay opponents

Bigotry and prejudice espoused by world leaders like the Pope and the President of the United States are inspiring more and more people to join the world-wide movement for same-sex marriage. Everyone has their own way in which they can contribute towards advancing the cause. It's always a bonus if along the way we can have some fun. Yesterday we received an email that contained a creative and light-hearted approach to convey a message.

It began when Salt Lake City resident Rex Strother noticed the opposition to marriage for same-sex couples.

"How anyone can have an opposing thought to equal marriage rights is just beyond me," Rex told us. "I'm sure it's frustrating to the conservatives who want to say, 'but the Bible says it's wrong' or 'but it makes me uncomfortable' when they know that's not a legal stand. If this were the 1400's, they could say homosexuality was caused by possession or witches' spells or 'foul humours in the ether', but now we know homosexuality is one form of expressing natural human sexuality. This talk of constitutional amendments is sad and embarrassing; it is a lot of time and money and emotion spent on small thinking and discrimination in the name of tradition."

So Rex went down to his basement where he has an 8-track digital recorder. He set up his AKG C3000 microphone, picked up is Alvarez guitar, and began working on a spoof of the song "Chapel of Love".

"A friend of mind, Mike Rashkow, was a 60's songwriter who used to write songs with Ellie Greenwich, the actual author of "Chapel of Love". I've always been a bit of a class clown and while we were chatting by email last week, with all the talk out of San Francisco, New York and Portland of this fantastic civil disobedience movement, it just got me thinking and so I knocked out the lyric in a few minutes and emailed it to Mike and a few friends. It's such a well known song; it was easy to work with. Mike and my friends seemed to think the lyric was funny enough, so I looked up the guitar chords on the web. Thank goodness they were easy (G, Am and D7 for you guitar fans)."

The music hobbyist only began playing guitar two years ago "as part of my mid-life crisis. So much cheaper than buying a motorcycle."

After working on the song, Rex played it for his wife who laughed and encouraged him to send the song out through the Internet as his personal contribution towards the advancement of gay marriage.

"I hope the song is taken in the sort of spontaneous spirit in which it was recorded, and that it gets a laugh and doesn't offend anyone," Rex said. "To everyone working for and donating to this cause, please keep up the good work."

Listen to (Sneakin' in the) Back Door of Love

Other songs by Rex Strother