A Tribute to a Beautiful Song - "The Dance"

I rediscovered this song, "The Dance", written by Tony Arata and sang by Garth Brooks, when my husband and I were discussing the meaning of the song after he sang it during a Karoake session during our recent Alaskan cruise.  He dedicated it to a couple we met during the evening sit down dinner.  They were celebrating their wedding anniversary.   I thought Bob, my husband, gave a beautiful rendition of the song even without the Southern twang that Garth Brooks puts in when he sang it.

Somewhere in his memory, my husband recalled that it was not a clear cut romance gone bad song.  It was something else.  As usual, I googled it and found out that indeed it went beyond that interpretation though it could still be a proper one to assume. 

In this link https://vimeo.com/60119381 Garth Brooks mentioned that when they were preparing the video for the song which is considered his signature one, they went for something deeper in terms of the significance of the song.  They wanted to focus on famous icons who lost their lives as they pursued their dreams.  In this aforementioned video, they showed archived footages of these heroes who bravely went for their dreams no matter what the odds were.  Garth assumed that if these icons knew the ending which were tragic for some they would still "leave it to chance" as the lyrics say and would not change a thing.  He also mentioned that he himself would like to live his life in a similar manner and be remembered for living it that way. 

This video was made in 1990 for Garth's first album and the song shot to number 1 and the video won the award for Best Video that year.  (I could not upload the Vimeo video but below is a Youtube video that this blog will allow.   Do savor the beautiful melody and words of the song.  To view the Vimeo with Garth's explanation click the aforementioned link https://vimeo.com/60119381 ).

Here is the list of people that the director of the video John Lloyd Miller and Garth Brooks included. They chose them to represent the American Icons who died for a dream. Below are the description of these dreamers as quoted from Wikepedia.

• 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 American 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 Fitzgerald Kennedy - President of the United States who was assassinated in 1963.
• John Wayne - Film actor best known for his roles in Westerns.

The melody which begins with the haunting chords easily sweeps you to your own dreams as I did.  I began to ask myself, have I fulfilled them?  Would I have changed anything or leave it to chance?

I played this song many times especially after I learned the meaning that the videographers wanted us to envision.  Everytime I felt a little bit nostalgic and a little teary eyed.  The journey was not always smooth to reach my own dreams.  There were some parts in them that were left unfulfilled.  But overall,  I am grateful to have lived the way I did and I would not change a thing.  I would leave the chips alone and let them fall whereever they had.  After all what is life without surprizes or the excitement of daring to face the unknown? Knowing the pain as the lyrics say, will leave you with cold feet and miss the dance. Isn't life more the journey than the destination?  Not to sound philosophical or theological, isn't this the beauty of  being granted freedom or our free will by a loving and trusting God?