I Hope You Dance sung by Lee Ann Womack.
I never
thought of the 2000 Country and pop crossover mega-hit I Hope You Dance as likely fodder
for the Home Confinement Music Festival until
Billy Seger sang if for our Tree of Life UU Congregation’s Flower
Communion service last Sunday. But
of course it’s perfect.
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| Lee Ann Womack's top hit album. |
I Hope You Dance was written by Mark D. Sanders and Tia
Sillers for
Country diva Lee Ann Womack who
recorded it with Sons of the Desert,
a band fronted by lead vocalist Drew Womack and his brother Tim on lead guitar. The brothers
Womack were no relation to Lee Ann. The
song reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot Country Singles &
Tracks and Hot Adult Contemporary
Tracks charts, and # 14 on the Billboard
Hot 100. It is considered Womack’s signature song is the only Billboard #1 for both Womack and Sons of
the Desert. It won the 2001 Country Music Association (CMA), Academy of Country Music (ACM),
Nashville Songwriters Association
International (NSAI), ASCAP, and Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI)
awards for Song of the Year. It also won the Grammy Award for Best
Country Song and was nominated for
Song of the Year.
 |
The Sons of the Desert in 1994.
|
The
song was written from the point of view of an unknown narrator to an unidentified
person—a slightly quirky love song. Womack immediately thought of it as a song
from a parent to a child or teen going through a tough
time. It was an unexpected hit with young people, not the usual
Country audience and became a staple at
proms and graduations. It was also for
several years the favorite song for father/bride
dances at weddings.
At
her request Womack sang I Hope You Dance at
poet Maya Angelou’s funeral service.
The
song also became words of comfort for those experiencing pain or loss—which makes
it perfect for this context.
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