I Hope You Dance

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"I Hope You Dance"
Single by Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert
from the album I Hope You Dance
Released	2000
Format	CD single Promo-only CD single 7" vinyl single
Genre	Country
Length	4:54 (Album Version) 4:04 (Radio Version)
Label	MCA Nashville
Writer(s)	Mark D. Sanders Tia Sillers
Producer	Frank Liddell Mark Wright
Lee Ann Womack chronology
"(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" (1999) "I Hope You Dance" (2000) "Ashes by Now" (2001)
Sons of the Desert chronology "Everybody's Gotta Grow up Sometime" (1999) "I Hope You Dance" (2000) "What I Did Right" (2001) Music video "I Hope You Dance" at CMT.com

"I Hope You Dance" is a crossover country pop song written by Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers, and recorded by country singer Lee Ann Womack along with Sons of the Desert. The song, which was featured on Womack's 2000 album of the same name, reached number one on both the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, and also reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. It is considered to be Womack's signature song,^[1][2] and it is the only Billboard number one for both Womack and for Sons of the Desert.

"I Hope You Dance" won the 2001 CMA, ACM, NSAI, ASCAP and 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. "I Hope You Dance" is ranked 352 in the list "Songs of the Century" complied by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Content

"I Hope You Dance" is a mid-tempo country pop ballad in which the narrator, a mother, expresses her wishes to her children^{[citation needed]}, such as:

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

Get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leaves you empty-handed"

Two versions of Womack's recording were released. The original version features then-labelmates Sons of the Desert singing a counterpoint chorus alongside Womack's main chorus, while a second version of the song released for pop radio replaces these background vocals with those of an unknown vocal group. Nonetheless, both Womack and Sons of the Desert received credit on all Billboard charts. (Lee Ann Womack is not related to Sons of the Desert lead singer Drew Womack or his brother, Tim.) The song was also Sons of the Desert's first Top 40 country hit since "Leaving October" in 1998.

The music video features Lee Ann Womack singing the song to her daughters.

Other versions

This section requires expansion.

• In October 2004, Irish singer Ronan Keating released a cover version, which reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart.
• Gladys Knight sang a rendition of the song, for the Tyler Perry film The Family That Preys.
• In 2009, American Idol finalist, Danny Gokey performed this song, and received praises from the judges.

Chart performance

Lee Ann Womack and Sons of the Desert

Succession

Ronan Keating

References