Slow Dancing with the Moon (1993) was Dolly Parton’s second straight Platinum album, and continued a winning streak that started four years earlier with her return to country music.
It’s funny that I feel like I’ve been aware of (and a fan of) Parton for my entire life, but I never really knew anything about her music. Apart from the handful of hits we all know, her recording career was a mystery.
Stepping through it, it’s a little odd to think of her having the same ups and downs as most recording artists — the same detours into unforgiving genres, the same comebacks. Shouldn’t a legend like Dolly Parton be immune to all of that?
This album was one of her biggest in terms of both sales and scope. It features a laundry list of featured artists, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tanya Tucker, Billy Dean, and Billy Ray Cyrus. The songs are broad and bombastic.
It’s a bit much at times, and the album is at its best when Dolly sheds all that baggage and delivers a sweet, simple song like ‘Cross My Heart,’ a beauty tucked away late in the tracklist.
‘More Where That Came From’ is a catchy little stomper that managed to show up in both a Target commercial and an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head.
I also like album opener ‘Full Circle,’ today’s SOTD, a loving tribute to a long-term romance.
You’ve seen me naked in more ways than one
You’ve seen me done up, seen me come undone
We’ve cried in the darkness, we’ve laughed in the sun
We’ve been forever, yet we’ve just begun
[Chorus]
We’ve come full circle, all the way ’round
Through the good times, the bad times, through life’s ups and downs
Still we’ve stayed together through thick and through thin
Yes, we’ve come full circle
Thank God, we’re still friends
[Verse 2]
You know the soft spots under my skin
Deep down inside me, where no one has been
And we’ve sailed troubled waters, we’ve soared on the wind
But time’s only sweetened this love that we’re in
[Chorus]
We’ve come full circle, all the way ’round
Through the good times, the bad times, through life’s ups and downs
Still we’ve stayed together through thick and through thin
Yes, we’ve come full circle
Thank God, we’re still friends
[Verse 3]
We’ve cried in the darkness, laughed in the sun
We’ve come full circle and we’ve just begun
We’ve come full circle, we’ve been all the way ’round
We’ve come full circle, we’ve been all the way ’round
You know we’ve cried in the darkness, and we’ve laughed in the sun
We’ve stayed together, and we’ve just begun
[Outro]
We’ve come full circle, we’ve been all the way ’round
I’m so glad you’re still my friend
We’ve come full circle, and I’d do it all again
