Movie Music Monday – Coyote Ugly – Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian

Honestly, I’ve never seen the movie Coyote Ugly. I did mention it on the radio a few times because we played songs from the soundtrack. The film premiered on this day in 2000.

“Can’t Fight The Moonlight” by LeAnn Rimes is the theme song to the movie. In the film Piper Perabo’s character plays a singer-songwriter from New Jersey who moves to New York City to pursue her music career. She ends up getting a job at a bar called the Coyote Ugly, where she makes enough money to buy a Mac that she uses to write and record this song. It earns her a showcase audition where she performs the song, wowing the crowd and earning a label deal.

“Can’t Fight The Moonlight” was a huge international hit, topping the charts in Australia, the UK, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and several other territories. In Australia, it was the best-selling single of 2001.

Believe it or not, the song didn’t do so well in America, where it only reached #71 in September 2001, It was released as the first single from the Coyote Ugly soundtrack. Seeing the international success, Rimes’ label, Curb, gave it another shot, re-releasing the song with a renewed promotional push. The re-release went to #11 in March 2002, long after the film had left theaters. Second time’s the charm apparently.

LeAnn provided the voice for Perabo’s singing in the film, and actually shows up to sing it in the film. The video is essentially an extended version of Rimes’ appearance in the film, showing her singing the song on the Coyote Ugly bar, intercut with other scenes from the movie.