Vandross wrote "Dance with My Father" with Marx, based on his personal experience. Considered by Vandross as his "career song", "Dance with my Father" is a tribute to his father, Luther Vandross Sr., who died due to complications of
diabetes. Vandross was eight when his father died. According to Marx, writing the song was emotional for Vandross because it is "a subject matter [Vandross] hadn't written before". On the backdrop of strings and interplay of piano and drums, Vandross recalls fond memories with his late father who used to dance with his mother. Mary Ida, his mother, says, "I was amazed at how well Luther remembered his father, how we used to dance and sing in the house. I was so surprised that at years of age, he could remember what a happy household we had." Barry Walters of
Rolling Stone magazine qualifies the memories invoked in the lyrics as painful and private, adding that when Vandross asks God to return his father, it "turn[s] a potentially maudlin song into a meditative, deeply personal prayer". At the time of "Dance with My Father"'s release as a
single on May 30, 2003, Vandross had been hospitalized due to his suffering from
stroke. This timely release of the song gained attention from critics. On his review for the album, David Jeffries of
AllMusic wrote that its release "makes the song's references to absent loved ones even more poignant". For Larry Flick of
The Advocate, it transformed the song into "a haunting composition rife with subtext". == Reception ==