She's Like The Wind

Album: Dirty Dancing soundtrack (1987)
Charted: 17 3
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Songfacts®:

  • "She's Like The Wind" features in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing in a scene where Patrick Swayze says goodbye to Jennifer Grey after their summer fling, telling her, "I'll never be sorry." Her reply: "Neither will I."

    Swayze doesn't sing it on camera, making it a rare case where the star of a film soundtracks his own scene.
  • This wasn't written for Dirty Dancing; Swayze wrote the song with his friend Stacy Widelitz for a movie he was shooting in 1984 called Grandview, U.S.A. Swayze had the basic chords and the opening lyrics ("She's like the wind, through my tree..."). They hashed out the song over the next few days, but it was rejected for the film. Two years later, Swayze was working on Dirty Dancing, and he played the demo of the song for the producers, who gave it the green light. They recorded a proper version with Michael Lloyd producing, and the song became a big part of the soundtrack, which sold over 30 million copies and spent 18 weeks at #1 in the US. It was the first song Patrick Swayze released.
  • The song is about a guy with some self-esteem issues: there's a girl he's after, but he thinks she's out of his league. She's close by, but elusive - like the wind. You kinda hope the guy will grow some confidence when he sings, "Just a fool to believe I have anything she needs." Man up!
  • The female voice on this song is Wendy Fraser, who was co-writer Stacy Widelitz' girlfriend. She sang on the demo, and then years later when they recorded the song for Dirty Dancing, producer Michael Lloyd brought her back to sing on the track. Fraser, who studied music at Hunter College in New York, went to Los Angeles to pursue a career in pop music, but found her calling as a jazz singer. In 2008 she released an album called It's A Woman Thing.
  • This was the third single released from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which hung around for quite a while. The film was released in August 1987, and the first single, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" hit #1 US in November. The next single, "Hungry Eyes," reached #4 in February, and "She's Like The Wind" landed at #3 later that month.
  • Stacy Widelitz, who co-wrote this song with Swayze, became a successful songwriter, composing music for a number of TV shows. His name is often misspelled "Stacey Widelitz" in credits, leading many to believe it was a woman who wrote this song with Swayze.
  • Patrick Swayze was big into music, but there was far more demand for his acting than his singing. He did a duet with Larry Gatlin called "Brothers" for the soundtrack of his 1989 film Next Of Kin, and has two songs on the soundtrack to Road House, another film his starred in that year. His 2003 film One Last Dance also featured two Swayze songs on the soundtrack, but "She's Like The Wind" was his only hit, making Swayze one of the more high-profile one-hit wonders.
  • This spent two weeks at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart.
  • A version by Lumidee featuring Tony Sunshine went to #43 US in 2007. In this rendition, Tony Sunshine sings the lyrics, which are interspersed with raps by Lumidee, who takes the female perspective, telling him to step up and make his move.

Comments: 4

  • Desiree from Canton , OhioOne of my favorite movies ever ! She’s like he wind is an absolutely beautiful song !! I never get tired of the movie or the music ! It’s actually refreshing to watch something from a long time ago . Makes me wish our world was still like it .
  • Jennifer Lynne Hensley from United States Of AmericaThey'll never be anyone as great as Patrick Swayze!
  • Kevin from UsaI don't understand how these "facts" are those at all. One of them says the song was #1 in the US while another says it topped at #3. Wikipedia backs up the #3 claim. How is the #1 claim allowed to be on the page? [The soundtrack album was #1, the song went to #3 - editor]
  • Jamie/fan Of Patrick Swayze from UsaYou’re very wrong about why he wrote it. He wrote it for Lisa, his wife and he says this many times and I even have one of the interviews where he states that fact. I’m a huge fan of Patrick and this story is wrong.
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