Monday Music "The Dance" by Garth Brooks

 

 I never was a big country Music fan, My Dad was a huge fan, but I wasn't...But This song grabbed me,, I heard it for the first time in Germany right before we were deployed to the Persian Gulf and it was haunting song of what it could have been. if you know what I mean.  I bought the CD and I still have it in my CD collection in my bonus room.  although like Bruce Springsteen, I was disappointed by his politics.  I kinda wish that they wouldn't get involved with politics because it winds up alienating a huge chunk of their fan base.

Garth Brooks is the debut studio album of American country music artist Garth Brooks, released on April 12, 1989 through Capitol Nashville. It was both a critical and chart success, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200 and at #2 on the Top Country Albums chart. The album has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments over ten million copies.

"The Dance" is a song written and composed by Tony Arata, and recorded by American country music singer Garth Brooks as the tenth and final track from his self-titled debut album, from which it was also released as the album's fourth and final single in April 1990. It is considered by many to be Brooks' signature song. In a 2015 interview with Patrick Kielty of BBC Radio 2, Brooks credits the back to back success of both "The Dance" and its follow up "Friends in Low Places" for his phenomenal success.

I spent several hours trying to find the official video and was unsuccessful, so I finally settled on a video that sang the song, but was the closest to the original video in meaning.....at least to me.

The song's music video, directed by John Lloyd Miller, features an introduction by Brooks himself explaining the alternative meaning of the song. The video shows several American icons and examples of people who died for a dream. These include archive footage of the following:

• Lane Frost - World Champion Bull rider, who was killed in 1989 by the bull he rode for a full eight seconds during a rodeo.
• Keith Whitley - Country singer who died in 1989 from alcohol poisoning. The Whitley scenes featured his then-wife Lorrie Morgan.
• Martin Luther King Jr. - Baptist minister who is best known for his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and was assassinated in 1968.
• The crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, shortly before it disintegrated after its launch in 1986.
• John F. Kennedy - President of the United States who was assassinated in 1963.
• John Wayne - Film actor best known for his roles in Westerns.

It was awarded Video of the Year at the 1990 ACM Music Awards.

Released near the beginning of his career, "The Dance" was a hit single around the world, including the United States, Europe, and Ireland, charting inside the British pop top 40.^[3] In 1990, it was named both Song of the Year and Video of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. It was awarded the number 14 position in the CMT 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music broadcast in 2003^[4] and also the number 5 position on the network's The Greatest: 100 Greatest Music Videos special in 2004.^[5]

In a 1994 Playboy interview, Brooks said, "unless I am totally surprised, The Dance will be the greatest success as a song we will ever do. I'll go to my grave with The Dance. It'll probably always be my favorite song."

In 2001, after the death of Dale Earnhardt, Brooks was invited to the NASCAR awards ceremony that was honoring Earnhardt to play the song as a tribute. The song has been used as several country stations' last song before changing formats. It was also the second song to be played on UK station Country 1035, the first being another Brooks number.

On February 6, 2014, "The Dance" was performed by Brooks on the final episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC.