Throwback Thursday ‘Can’t Fight the Moonlight’ by LeAnn Rimes (2000)

LeAnn Rimes will be at The Sioux Empire Fair this Saturday, August 3rd, so I figured it was only appropriate to relive one of her biggest bops!

"Can't Fight the Moonlight" was the theme song for the movie, Coyote Ugly. The song was included on the movie soundtrack as well on Rimes's albums, I Need You and The Best of LeAnn Rimes.

"Can't Fight the Moonlight" was written by Diane Warren. Diane Warren has so many hit songs it's ridiculous. She also wrote "Because You Loved Me", "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", and "How Do I Live" just to name a few.

LeAnn Rimes said she only agreed to be part of Coyote Ugly because "Can't Fight the Moonlight" was already attached. She wanted the song that bad.

LeAnn Rimes also provided the singing voice for Piper Perabo in the movie. According to Wikipedia, "The vocals Rimes provided are altered in their pitch and vocal range in comparison to her natural vocal range; and, the closing scene, wherein she and Perabo's character sing, is effectively her duetting with herself."

"Can't Fight the Moonlight" had an interesting trip up the charts in America. In the aforementioned Wikipedia article, it states, "In the US, it enjoyed two chart runs on the Billboard Hot 100. On its original chart run in 2000,^[17] "Can't Fight the Moonlight" stalled at number seventy-one. It regained interest in late 2001 and 2002 thanks radio airplay of the Graham Stack remix, and rose up the charts to number eleven."

Furthermore, "Due to Rimes's previous success in country music, even though this song was not officially released to country radio, it still made it at number sixty-one on the Billboard Country Song chart in its first release due to unsolicited airplay as an album cut."

"Can't Fight the Moonlight" went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at #5 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs and Adult Contemporary charts!