"Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance, you learn as you go!"
Those famous lyrics were sung by the great John Michael Montgomery in the song, "Life's a Dance" on September 21, 1992. This hit song came from his debut album "Life's a Dance." The song itself peaked at #4 on the Billboard top 100 in 1992 and 1993. The album was extravagant as it went triple platinum and would make John Michael Montgomery a name for himself in country music.
Now you're probably sitting there thinking that the song is old since most of us, including me, were not born. Hell, I was not even a concept yet, but then again my parents were 15 and 16 years old. Others were still in high school, college, or even just recently got married. Whatever occurred in your life in 1992 had an impact on your life and you probably look back at every day. In case some who forgot or wanted to know what 1992 looked like, here is a few pictures to give you an idea.
Country music has always been part of my life. When I was growing up, I would let my parents put in a CD in the CD player and we would listen to music all the time. I would listen to country music artists such as Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Craig Morgan, Lonestar, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith, and Garth Brooks. Later on I would grow up to love all those artists and many more as I would live on and grow my fondness for country music. It was not until I got into high school that I would listen to country music artists that I had never heard of. In fact, I was listening to Pandora on my IPod when I first listen to John Michael Montgomery. I first heard of him when I listened to the song "I Swear" on Brooks and Dunn Radio. After I liked his song, Pandora suggested more of his music to me. That was when I heard the song "Life's a Dance." I thought it was not a bad song until it became an earworm and found myself singing it when no one was around. After I listened to the song a few more times, it became a song on my country music playlist on Spotify because it was in love with it.
The song is about what the quoted lyrics say it's about literally. It can be seen as a double entendre. Life can be this roller coaster of ups and downs. It is a matter of how we perceive it and decide what we want to do with it. There are times we can choose the path of our lives and decide how we are going to live and other times we let life just take its course and go along with the ride. Life is like a dance because when we dance, we can decide whether we want to lead or just go along. That is why life is like a dance. Pretty unique isn't it?
There have been moments in my life where I just followed and allowed life to lead for me. When I was a kid, we constantly moved around due to my dad going to job to job. We were constantly moving around, averaging a move every two years from the time I was 5 til I was 18. Later on I would find myself moving into college and then into another college. In that time I followed what life would lead me into and I learned many things and had plenty of learning experiences along the way. But the biggest thing I learned was that country music was going to be there for me, through the good times and the bad times. By following life I was able to see how my future was going to unfold. I would meet plenty of people in that. Some that would stick with me for the rest of my life and others that came and went. Although every one of them made me realize who I was and the person that I was.
Then there were the times I took the lead. I took risks that I did not think I should have taken and they payed off. I took a risk of running cross country and found myself loving the sport. That sport took me to places I had never been to and have opportunities that I did not think I would have. I took the chance of transferring schools after already adjusting to one school to find myself in the situation of starting all over again. Though I do reminisce about the good times, I do not look back and say to myself, "it was a bad idea to transfer" even though I do miss the people that I became friends with back at Ferris. I was like a new country artist taking a risk to make it big in the industry in order to be a famous country music artists like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and many other legends like them.
This song can teach us it to not be afraid of what can occur in our lives. Sure you can lead the way and take control of what road your life takes, but sometimes it is just best to follow. Do not be afraid to live life to the fullest so when you back to the good 'ol days you don't sit back and go "wow I should've done that differently" or "if I could go back in time, I would have done that completely different" because that is the great thing about life being a dance. We can learn from our mistakes so that we don't make those same mistakes again and possibly meet someone special that could not lead you on the dance floor, but also on the floor that they floor they call life.
Whether you can recite the song in your head and want to listen to it for the nostalgia or want to listen to it for the first time, here it is:
