Behind the Song: I Want To Dance

“I Want to Dance” is special to me because it is one of the songs I wrote early on as I was learning about all of this “music stuff.” It has been really cool to see it come to life several years later.

If you don’t know my background a quick little catch up is that I did not sing/play/or write a single bit until my mid twenties with a husband and babies running around, pregnant with another. During this time just dabbling in these abilities I didn’t know I had was such a self discovery. I would stay up late at night practicing chords and songs over and over. When I started to write it was healing for me. I wrote what I knew around me, I still do to some degree, but at the time most was very literal.

“I Want To Dance with you…”

One day me and my husband were fighting, I have no clue what it was about but we fought a lot at the time and were just in an unhappy place with the stress of life. I had just driven home, pulled into my house, turned off my truck and was so frustrated. I was remembering when life was fun, we used to swing dance and he could flip me around 100 ways…then we got old with back injuries lol… I was realizing I wanted to go back to that happy place, that time where we had fun, instead of now where we blow up about everything and stress had taken over.

“Spotlights magnify one small picture, leaving in the dark everything that’s bigger…”

In that moment sitting in my truck I was emotional and upset, but the lyrics and the realization this was a stupid fight started to come. All I was doing was magnifying the little stuff that didn’t matter when there was so much good all around me. I started writing it all quickly, the melody at the same time of the lyrics. I just wrote and wrote …

“When we fuss and fight usually neither is right.

I push you away saying that I need space,

but pull me close and hold me so tight.

Don’t be blinded by the beam of light….”

The second verse was more honesty from me than anyone would typically see at the time. First of all admitting I was probably wrong! Also that what I am saying is not what I really need was huge. “Leave me alone’ was a common phrase, but what I truly needed was a hug, a little bit of grace, and to move on from whatever stupid thing the spotlight was on at the moment and just live in the bigger picture.

“I give up sweep me off my feet again…”

Confession: I am a handful! I can be pretty stubborn and kind of difficult …so can everyone else don’t act like I’m alone here! This line is a truce. It’s not saying I give up on us it is saying I give up, I’m not going to keep fighting, let’s go back to where we were happy…I want to dance with you again.

The truth about dancing …

We don’t actually dance at all…disappointed?! We did swing dance and had a lot of fun with it, but that was before 3 kids, car accidents with back and neck injuries, etc. etc. no need to be calling an ambulance! Life is good though.

This song ended up being a beautiful snapshot of a dreamy moment in time. However you interpret it and whatever it ends up meaning to you I hope in its simplest form it says “get along and have fun together!”

‘I Want To Dance” Lyrics

Spotlights magnify one small picture

Leaving in the dark everything that’s bigger

And we focus in on losing ourselves here

Count it all as loss everything that’s dear

But I Want to Dance, want to dance with you

I want to dance, dance with you

Step out of the spotlight and do what we do right

I want to dance, dance with you

When we fuss and fight

Usually neither is right

I push you away saying that I need space