"Can't Fight the Moonlight" is a song written by

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. War ...

and performed by American singer

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at age 13 with 1996's "Blue". She has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Chr ...

. It is the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the film '' Coyote Ugly''. Released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on August 22, 2000, the song reached the top 10 in 19 European countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, topping the charts in 12 of these territories; it became Australia's best-selling single of 2001. In the United States, a different mix of the song peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 2002. The song appeared on Rimes's '' I Need You'' (2002)

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

and '' The Best of LeAnn Rimes'' (2004) with the Graham Stack

Radio Edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may a ...

of the song (known as the "Latino Mix" internationally) included as a bonus track on the ''I Need You'' album as well as on the sequel soundtrack to the film, ''More Music from Coyote Ugly'' (2003). The remix was also included on her ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' (2003) album as well as on the remix edition of her ''Best of'' album. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song was released in 2000 including clips taken from the ''Coyote Ugly'' film with Rimes performing at the "Coyote Ugly" bar.

Background

Rimes originally auditioned for the 2000 film '' Coyote Ugly'' to sing "Can't Fight the Moonlight" at the ending with

Piper Perabo Piper Lisa Perabo () (born October 31, 1976) is an American actress. Following her breakthrough in the comedy-drama film '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), she starred in '' The Prestige'' (2006), '' Angel Has Fallen'' (2019), and as CIA agent Annie Wa ...

but, once Rimes watched some cuts of the film, she decided to provide the singing voice for all the songs sung by Perabo. In the film, the song has a fictional story of being written by main character Violet Sanford, which at the end of the film becomes her big break into the music business after Rimes records it. Rimes later shared with her audience of a 2017 concert that she really wanted “Can’t Fight The Moonlight”, but it was attached to Coyote Ugly. She agreed to sing for Piper Perabo on the movie because she so badly wanted to sing “Can’t Fight The Moonlight”.'' Coyote Ugly'' (

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

)

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

. 2000. "Inside the Songs" bonus feature. (this would include " But I Do Love You", as well as two other tracks on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

). 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. The song's lyrics were slightly changed for film. "Can't Fight the Moonlight" is a pop song of 3 minutes and 35 seconds. The song was written by American

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ge ...

and performed by Rimes. The verses are written in the key of

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically D ...

with the first and second choruses in D-flat minor and the final chorus in D minor. The song is produced by

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...

with executive production by

Jerry Bruckheimer Jerome Leon Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1943) is an American film and television producer. He has been active in the genres of action, drama, fantasy, and science fiction. His films include ''Flashdance'', ''Top Gun'', '' The Rock'', '' Cr ...

, Kathy Nelson and

Mike Curb Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944) is an American musician, record company executive, motorsports car owner, philanthropist, and former politician. He is also the founder of Curb Records where he presently serves as the chairman. Curb also s ...

. Orchestral arrangements were done by David Campbell with engineering and mixing done by Steve MacMillan. Additional engineering was done by Tim Weidner, Greg Hunt, Gary Leach and Austin Deptula. According to Warren it is the first song she had written with so many key changes. A review by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' praised producer Trevor Horn by stating "Oh-so creatively produced by Trevor Horn with guitars, lush layers of harmony, and a funky albeit delicate hip-hop track (no, really), this easy-flowing midtempo popper is a sassy number, demonstrating that Rimes has crossed the line to adult-leaning lyrics."

Release

"Can't Fight the Moonlight" was first released on the soundtrack for ''Coyote Ugly'' on August 1, 2000. It was released in the US on a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

on August 22, 2000, along with the song, " But I Do Love You" (also included on the soundtrack) as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

track. The song was later released on a maxi-single which included several remixes of the song. The song was also included on Rimes's 2002

, '' I Need You'', with the Graham Stack

of the song included as a bonus track. In 2003, the Graham Stack Radio Edit of the song would be included on the ''More Music from Coyote Ugly'' soundtrack on January 28, 2003. and Rimes' ''

'' album on November 18, 2003. In 2004, the song was included on '' The Best of LeAnn Rimes'', while the Graham Stack Radio Edit (known as the "Latino Mix" internationally) was released on the remixed edition.

Critical reception

Wendy Mitchell of Barnes & Noble.com praised the song calling it "ultra-catchy". Heather Phares of AllMusic considered the song to be a "positively

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

ian power ballad". A review in ''

'' about Rimes and the song stated that the song "is by far her most compelling pop offering yet–and one of the more intriguing compositions of late from songwriter superwoman Diane Warren."

Commercial performance

The song reached the top 20 in every country it charted in. It reached number one in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

for one week in November 2000. It also reached number one in Australia in January 2001 and went on to become the highest selling single in Australia of 2001. It went triple platinum in Australia selling over 210,000 copies. In Ireland, it reached number one in November 2000 for two weeks and is currently the 18th best selling single in the history of the Irish charts. In the US, it enjoyed two chart runs on the Billboard Hot 100. On its original chart run in 2000, "Can't Fight the Moonlight" stalled at number 71. It regained interest in late 2001 and 2002 thanks to radio airplay of the Graham Stack remix, and rose up the charts to number 11. In the US, the single is certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(which signifies sales of 500,000+ copies). The song spent 42 weeks on the charts and sold 668,000 copies. , it is Rimes's last song to chart in the top 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 11. 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 61 on the ''Billboard'' Country Song chart in its first release due to unsolicited airplay as an album cut. It also has had the distinction of taking the longest time to reach the top 40, 29 weeks, until

Of Monsters and Men Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic indie folk/ rock band formed in Reykjavík in 2010. The members are lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer and guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, lead guitarist Brynjar Leifs ...

's "

Little Talks "Little Talks" is the debut single by Icelandic indie folk/indie pop rock band Of Monsters and Men. The song was released as the lead single from their debut studio album, '' My Head Is an Animal'' (2011). It was also released on the band's EP ' ...

" took one week more in 2012. The single has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. It sold over 530,000 copies in the United Kingdom as stated by Britain's

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts in ...

. The song was the 12th best seller of 2000 in the UK and the 55th of the 2000 decade.

Music video

for the song was released in 2000 by

and directed by David McNally, the director of '' Coyote Ugly''. The video features Rimes wearing a white tank top and brown striped latex pants singing at the "Coyote Ugly" bar, and dancing with

Izabella Miko Izabella Miko (born Izabella Anna Mikołajczak; 21 January 1981) is a Polish actress, dancer, film producer, and environmental activist. She is best known for starring in the film ''Coyote Ugly'' and the music videos " Mr. Brightside" and "Miss ...

and the other girls who worked at the bar in the film. The video also features various scenes taken from the film. The music video was included as a bonus feature on both the theatrical and uncut

releases of the film.

Live performances

On February 1, 2001, Rimes performed the song on ''Music in High Places''. The performance was later featured on the limited edition bonus

included with her ''

'' album. On April 10, she performed it live at the 7th Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. On May 9, she performed a "beat box-driven" version of the song live at the 36th

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

, being accompanied by bare-chested dancers. Rimes also performed the song on

Sessions@AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

Covers and samples

South Korean singer

Lee Hyori Lee Hyo-ri (; born May 10, 1979) is a South Korean singer, record producer, activist, actress and television presenter. Dubbed as the "Nation's Fairy" during her '' Family Outing'' days, she debuted as a member of South Korean girl group Fin.K ...

performed the song during 2003's

MBC Drama Awards The MBC Drama Awards () is an awards ceremony presented by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for outstanding achievements in Korean dramas aired on its network. It is held annually in December. Unlike its counterparts in KBS and SBS, MBC ...

. American singer

Ava Max Amanda Ava Koci (born Amanda Koçi; February 16, 1994), known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, through which she released her breakthrough single " Sweet but Psycho" in ...

sampled the song on her 2022 single "

Million Dollar Baby ''Million Dollar Baby'' is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection ''Rope Burns: Stories from the Corn ...

Track listings

*Australian CD single # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" — 3:35 # " But I Do Love You" — 3:20 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Graham Stack Radio Edit) — 3:35 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Thunderpuss Club Mix) — 8:46 # "Can't Fight The Moonlight" (Sharp Club Vocal Mix) — 7:35 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Almighty Mix) — 7:52 *European CD single # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" — 3:35 # "But I Do Love You" — 3:20 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Graham Stack Radio Edit) — 3:35 * European CD maxi single # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Latino Mix) — 3:32 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Thunderpuss Club Mix) — 8:45 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Almighty Radio Edit) — 3:58 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Sharp Radio Edit) — 3:38 * US CD and cassette single # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" — 3:35 # "But I Do Love You" — 3:20 * US maxi-CD single, US and UK digital download # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Graham Stack Radio Edit) — 3:35 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Thunderpuss Radio Edit) — 3:36 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Plasmic Honey Radio Edit) — 3:22 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Almighty Mix) — 7:49 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Sharp Club Vocal Edit) — 5:40 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Thunderpuss Club Mix) — 8:46 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Plasmic Honey Club Mix Edit) — 6:37 # "Can't Fight the Moonlight" (Sharp Pistol Dub) — 5:46

Personnel

Credits for "Can't Fight the Moonlight" adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are descen ...

of the ''Coyote Ugly'' soundtrack. * Steve MacMillan - engineer, mixing *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

- guitar *

Jamie Muhoberac Benjamin Edward "Jamie" Muhoberac is an American session keyboardist with numerous credits. He is best known for his work with Seal and Was (Not Was). Biography Muhoberac has worked with acts including The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, Bob ...

- keyboards, bass * Lee Sklar - bass *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist * John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' * John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *Joh ...

- drums * Curt Bisquera - drums *

Alan Pasqua Alan Pasqua (born June 28, 1952) is an American rock and jazz pianist. He studied at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His album ''Standards'' with drummer Peter Erskine was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008. As a ...

- piano * David Campbell - orchestra arrangement * Sue Ann Carwell - background vocals * LeAnn Rimes - lead vocals, background vocals * Niki Harris - background vocals * Tim Weidner - additional engineering * Greg Hunt - additional engineering * Gary Leach - additional engineering * Austin Deptula - additional engineering * Sara Lind - technical assistant * Robert Orton - technical assistant *

Gavin Lurssen Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California.Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 2000 *

List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK) The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. In the 2000s the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday, and the top 40 singles were revealed each Sunday on BBC Radio 1. Before the ...

* List of number-one singles of 2000 (Ireland) * List of songs by Diane Warren * List of Swedish number-one hits * List of number-one singles in Australia in 2001 *

List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand) In New Zealand, the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) compiles the top forty record chart, singles chart each week. Sales of songs determined 75% of the sorting information, and radio airplay figures were responsible for 25%. ...

List of Romanian Top 100 number ones of the 2000s Founded in 1995, the Romanian Top 100 was the national music chart of Romania. It was compiled by broadcast monitoring services Body M Production A-V (1990s and 2000s) and by Media Forest (2010s), and measured the airplay of songs on radio stat ...

* Ultratop 50 number-one hits of 2001

References

External links

Can't Fight the Moonlight Music Video
a
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Can't Fight The Moonlight 2000 singles 2000 songs 2000s ballads APRA Award winners Curb Records singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles LeAnn Rimes songs London Records singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Hungary Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Sweden Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Songs written by Diane Warren Songs written for films UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles