This post is in response to Dolly’s series Music Passion on her blog All About Lemon. I found out about via Phil’s blog. You know–our Phil of Random Thoughts.

Even after all you know about me, this might come as a shocker. Or maybe I just blew in your ear and it tickled. You never know with me.

I have a secret. Well, not for much longer…

I want to be that swanky singer with a silky voice and slinky body so captivating that I can make men swoon. That’s who I’ve always wanted to be. Why do you think I dance-walk Scrappy around my neighborhood singing to my iPod with reckless abandon? I’m not insane, just delusional.

This is my dream. But dreams don’t always come true…

…Reality is as jarring as the inevitable crash that happens when karaoke meets driving at highway speeds.

When I was a little kid, my sisters and I danced (and by danced, I mean we spun around like the 45-record that was playing on the “hi-fi”) to the music of the times, mostly the Beatles. At school dances, we were the first ones on the dance floor because when the music started, so did we. And we were good. We moved to the music and had a natural choreography among us. Boys were, at that point, superfluous. If we knew the words to the song–and we always did–we sang as we danced.

We never stopped. At ages 56, 54, and 52, we still shake, shimmy and strut our stuff around a dance floor like we own it. We do. We still sing when we know the words; but I know the words to fewer and fewer songs these days.

Okay, so this new class at the Wellness Center may not be working out quite as I envisioned, but I’m up (or maybe down) for any kind of dancing if there’s a good beat.

One song that I dance-walk and sing to and love to dance-dance to on the dance floor is “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” by LeAnn Rimes. The song was written for the movie Coyote Ugly. I’ve long since forgotten the plot of this film, but the pull of the rhythm and lyrics of this song on me is as strong as the pull of the moon on the tides. Click here to see a video of LeAnn performing the song the way I would love to perform it: belting it out, pitch-perfect, while standing on a bar in a sexy outfit with the crowd mesmerized and energized by my Ooh-Baby-Baby-ness.

The song mentions moonlight. This is perfect because I am a moon-worshiper. Don’t worry. I’m not a witch in the conventional Wicked Witch of the Directions sense (you can decide if that was a Wizard of Oz reference or a snarky nod to your love-to-hate-it navigational system). I’m just a woman who loves the gentle glow of the moon over the harsh rays of the sun.

Here are the lyrics in case you’re interested (and why wouldn’t you be?):

“Can’t Fight The Moonlight”

Under a lovers’ sky
Gonna be with you
And no one’s gonna be around
If you think that you won’t fall
Well just wait until
Til the sun goes down

Underneath the starlight – starlight
There’s a magical feeling – so right
It’ll steal your heart tonight

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
Deep in the dark
You’ll surrender your heart
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
No, you can’t fight it
It’s gonna get to your heart

There’s no escape from love
Once a gentle breeze
Weaves it’s spell upon your heart
No matter what you think
It won’t be too long
Til your in my arms
Underneath the starlight – starlight
We’ll be lost in the rhythm – so right
Feel it steal your heart tonight

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
Deep in the dark
You’ll surrender your heart
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
No you can’t fight it
No matter what you do
The night is gonna get to you

Don’t try then
You’re never gonna win

Underneath the starlight – starlight
There’s a magical feeling – so right
It will steal your heart tonight

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
Deep in the dark
You’ll surrender your heart
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
No, you can’t fight it

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know
Don’t you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
Deep in the dark
You’ll surrender your heart
But you know
But you know that you can’t fight the moonlight
No, you can’t fight it
It’s gonna get to your heart

Music. The moon. Both are my passions. I can’t fight either one. I don’t want to.