♫ Dance With My Father ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under music

Every song I looked at or that popped into my head this evening … I had already played.  Nonetheless, I have had a delightful hour or so listening to old favourites!  So finally, I decided on a replay of this one, for it is a beautiful song and one that I love … I hope you will, too.

Luther Vandross, with help from Richard Marx, wrote this song shortly after he suffered a stroke on April 16, 2003, that left him in a coma for two months and eventually killed him two years later on July 1, 2005. The song is a tribute to his late father, and very poignant as it was one of Luther’s last songs. His father died when he was young, and Luther’s most poignant memory of his dad was him dancing in the house with his kids.

At the 2004 Grammy Awards, Vandross, by then confined to a wheelchair, appeared in a pre-taped video segment to accept his Song of the Year Award for “Dance with My Father”, saying, “When I say goodbye it’s never for long, because I believe in the power of love”. 

His last public appearance was on May 6, 2004, on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

I love this song, but it always leaves me with a tear or two.

Dance with My Father
Luther Vandross

Back when I was a child
Before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high
And dance with my mother and me
And then
Spin me around ’till I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure
I was loved

If I could get another chance
Another walk
Another dance with him
I’d play a song that would never ever end
How I’d love love love
To dance with my father again

When I and my mother
Would disagree
To get my way I would run
From her to him
He’d make me laugh just to comfort me
yeah yeah
Then finally make me do
Just what my mama said
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he
Would be gone from me

If I could steal one final glance
One final step
One final dance with him
I’d play a song that would never ever end
Cause I’d love love love to
Dance with my father again

Sometimes I’d listen outside her door
And I’d hear how mama would cry for him
I’d pray for her even more than me
I’d pray for her even more than me

I know I’m praying for much to much
But could you send her
The only man she loved
I know you don’t do it usually
But Dear Lord
She’s dying to dance with my father again

Every night I fall asleep
And this is all I ever dream

Songwriters: Luther Vandross / Richard Marx
Dance with My Father lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management

26 thoughts on “♫ Dance With My Father ♫ (Redux)”

  4. I cannot believe you would refuse to redux a song just because some of your readers didn’t like it. Sure, play songs for us, but first play songs for yourself. We listen because you want us to listen, Jill, but whether we like particular songs is up to us. Nobody has exactly the same tastes as anybody else. This is your blog. Tell us what YOU like, because that is what we want to know.
    When I tell you I don’t like or appreciate a song, this does not mean I want you to stop listening to it. I will usually (always?) tell you why I’d prefer not to listen to it. It will come from something in my own experience, or from my understanding of the world. Is it anti-woman (read pro-Male Chauvanist Pig), I won’t like it. I have no use for MCPs in my life, but I am not wanting to make you dislike such a song.
    This song I don’t like or dislike. My experience is that it has no connection to me, so I cannot relate to it. A person has only one real father in life, and that, if one even knows their father, is how we see our father. My life experience is that I cannot imagine a loving father dancing with me, or my mother. This is like a fairytale for me. If I allow it to, it can make me very maudlin. But I know other people did have a father like this, or like something else. It has meaning to them, maybe even to you. There is no reason you should not enjoy it. For me, there is just nothing there.
    I know you have said in the past that you almost didn’t play a song because you thought I might not like it. Please, NEVER DO THAT. I would be a horrible friend if I had you do such a thing. I want you to celebrate yourself, your life, YOUR EXPERIENCE.
    PLAY YOU, dear Jill, play you, not me.

    Liked by 3 people

    • No worries, my friend. I DO play what I like … I have a firm policy that even if one of you specifically requests a song, I won’t play it if I don’t also like it. I do, however, take great pleasure from playing songs that I like and that also strike a chord with my readers, that bring back a good memory or get their toes tapping. That’s part of the pleasure for me in doing these posts, knowing that I’ve done something that at least a few others enjoy, something that we can all share and have a common bond.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. “Memories are simply moments that refuse to be ordinary.” – From Diane Keaton’s Nov. 2011 memoir “Then Again”. There are songs that have the power to reduce me to tears without hearing a note, rather just simply by reading the title…this is one of them. I will not repeat the childhood memory as written in my previous comment, though I remember it well as it came from the heart. If you have never heard the album “So Amazing : An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross” that was released in September 2005, less than three months after his death, you should definitely do so. Celine Dion sings this song and gives a credible performance. As with each of the many artist’s renditions of 15 songs, none can surpass the voice of Vandross, but Dion’s feminine voice adds something different to the song. Elton John, Patti LaBelle, Beyonce with Stevie Wonder and others add their own style to each of the songs. Undoubtedly, one the best offerings is the Donna Summer version of Power of Love”. Thank-you!

    Liked by 3 people

    • When I first decided to redux this one, I went back and checked the comments on it from the first playing (I do that to make sure people didn’t hate the song, in which case I wouldn’t want to redux it) and re-read your comment, which nearly brought a tear to my own eye. I have not heard that tribute album, but have made a note to check it out soon … thanks!!!

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.