Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen song)
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| "Dancing in the Dark" | ||
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| Single by Bruce Springsteen | ||
| from the album Born in the U.S.A. | ||
| Released | May 4, 1984 | |
| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |
| Recorded | March 1984 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 3:59 | |
| Label | Columbia Records | |
| Writer(s) | Bruce Springsteen | |
| Producer(s) | Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Bruce Springsteen singles chronology | ||
| "Atlantic City" (UK) (1982) "Fade Away" (US) 1980 |
"Dancing in the Dark"/"Pink Cadillac" (1984) |
"Cover Me" (1984) |
"Dancing in the Dark" is an 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. Adding up-tempo synthesizer riffs and some syncopation to his sound for the first time, it became his biggest hit and started the album Born in the U.S.A. to blockbuster status.
Contents |
[edit] History
"Dancing in the Dark" was the last song written and recorded for Born in the U.S.A. Springsteen's producer and manager Jon Landau liked the album but wanted a sure-fire first single, one that was fresh and directly relevant to Springsteen's current state of mind (as much of Born in the U.S.A. had been written two years earlier). Landau and Springsteen got into an argument, but later that night Springsteen wrote "Dancing in the Dark", and his irked mood from the day's argument combined with the frustrations in his career in the last couple of years quickly poured out into the lyric.
Released as a single prior to the album's release, the song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in July 1984 (it was kept out of the #1 spot by that year's song of the summer, Prince's "When Doves Cry"). It was also the first of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A.
The recording also won Springsteen his first Grammy Award, the 1985 award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It also won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance. In the 1985 Rolling Stone readers poll, "Dancing in the Dark" was voted the Song of the Year. The song has since gone onto earn further recognition, and is as such listed one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
[edit] Music video
The Brian DePalma-directed video included the part in which Springsteen sang "Hey, Baby!", and took Courteney Cox on stage. Cox was subsequently cast in Misfits of Science and would later go on to be one of the stars of NBC's hit comedy Friends. Although Cox had previously appeared in television commercials and had other roles, it is thought that her role in the music video played a large role in launching her early career.
The video was filmed on June 28 and June 29, 1984 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, before and during the initial show of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. The completed video was first aired on MTV on July 10, 1984. It received heavy airplay on MTV, and thus helped introduce Springsteen's music to a new, younger, and wider auidence.
[edit] Remixes
In a first for Springsteen in an effort to gain dance and club play for his music, and more non-whites in his audience, remix maestro Arthur Baker created the 12-inch "Blaster Mix" of "Dancing in the Dark", wherein he completely reworked the album version. Overdubbed were tom-toms, dulcimers, glockenspiel, assortied backing vocals, bass and horn sythesizer parts, and gunshot sounds. Springsteen's vocal part was chopped up, double-tracked, echoed, and repeated, with certain lines such as "You sit around getting older" and "Heeey, baby!" made even more prominent. The remix was released on July 2, 1984.
The result generated a lot of media buzz for Springsteen, as well as actual club play; the remix went to number 7 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and had the most sales of any 12-inch single in the United States in 1984. However many of Springsteen's hard-core rock fans, who had been suspicious of the new sound of "Dancing in the Dark" to begin with, really hated the remix. Baker was subsequently quoted in angry response: "I got really offended. What is so different? It has a fucking glockenspiel, which Bruce has used before, background vocals ... it's no different. See, if any of those mixes had come out before, with no one knowing the other version, no one would have said a word."
[edit] Track listings
[edit] 7-inch single
- Dancing in the Dark - 3:59
- Pink Cadillac - 3.33
The B-side of the single, "Pink Cadillac", was a comic rockabilly tale about the virtues (and vices) of a colorful Cadillac; in 1988 it became a #5 hit for Natalie Cole.
[edit] 12-inch single
- Dancing in the Dark - "Blaster Mix" - 6:09
- Dancing in the Dark - "Radio" edit - 4:50
- Dancing in the Dark - "Dub" edit - 5:30
[edit] Live performance history
"Dancing in the Dark" was a featured song throughout the 1984-1985 Born in the U.S.A. Tour, usually being played as the second song of the second set. Echoing the music video, the song's outro would be extended while Springsteen searched the front rows of the audience for a (usually cute young) woman to pull up onstage and dance with. This became quite the prize for the female faithful, and considerable jostling for position with stage security and each other could take place. Once up, some fans danced well, others wanted hugs more than steps, and some just froze.
During the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express Tour, the song was usually the next-to-last song of the second set, but it was played much the same and the same pull-the-girl-on-stage routine took place. However, by the start of the 1992 "Other Band" Tour, the song was drastically reshaped as a slow, tired harangue on solo electric guitar with no fan and no dancing. This interpretation only lasted a dozen or so performances before it was dropped altogether from the set list.
That it was his biggest hit notwithstanding, "Dancing in the Dark" thus essentially disappeared from Springsteen concerts for a decade, until it resurfaced as a regular encores selection shortly after the start of the 2002-2003 Rising Tour. Now presented in a more rock-oriented arrangement, it was warmly received by fans and stayed in the show for the balance of the tour, after which it went back into retirement for Springsteen's subsequent not-rock-band tours.
[edit] Cover versions
Los Angeles-based novelty band Big Daddy, who specialized in recording contemporary hits with circa 1959 pop/rock arrangements, covered "Dancing In The Dark" in 1985. The cover — done in the laid-back style of Pat Boone — became a surprise top UK 40 hit that same year.
Adam Sandler performed the song during a 1994 episode of Saturday Night Live which Courteney Cox was hosting. Pete Yorn did his take on the song on his 2002 album Musicforthemorningafter. In the fifth season of American Idol, eventual winner Taylor Hicks performed the song in the "final three" show, after Idol-related record executive Clive Davis personally asked Springsteen for permission to use it in the show. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Tegan and Sara regularly cover the song in their live sets; Leo reportedly asked to use the song on his cover-filled Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead EP but couldn't afford Springsteen's asking price, more than the other three covers used combined.
[edit] References
- Born in the U.S.A. Tour (tour booklet, 1984), Springsteen chronology.
- Born in the U.S.A. The World Tour (tour booklet, 1985), Tour chronology.
- Marsh, Dave. Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s. Pantheon Books, 1987. ISBN 0-394-54668-7.
[edit] External link
- Dancing In The Dark: Lyrics and detailed info + lyrics to several live versions
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