Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen song)



"Dancing in the Dark" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. With added uptempo synthesizer riffs and some syncopation to his sound for the first time, the song spent four weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million singles in the U.S. alone. As the first single released from his 1984 album, Born in the U.S.A., it became his biggest hit and propelled the album to become the best-selling album of his career.

Composition
The song is written in the key of B major with a tempo of 149 beats per minute in common time. Springsteen's vocals span from G♯4 to G♯5.

Remixes
In a first-for-Springsteen effort to gain dance and club play for his music, Arthur Baker created the 12-inch "Blaster Mix" of "Dancing in the Dark", wherein he reworked the album version. 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 #7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and had the most sales of any 12-inch single in the United States in 1984.

Live performance history
On the 2009 Working on a Dream Tour, the song appeared intermittently during the encores. However, Springsteen for the first time played a number of music festivals during the routing, and "Dancing in the Dark" closed all of them: Pinkpop Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Glastonbury Festival, and Hard Rock Calling. When played live in recent years, the song features a harder, guitar-driven sound, with the distinctive synthesizer riff being supplied by Soozie Tyrell's violin.

During the 2012 tour the song again became a regular at live shows with audience members selected to dance not just with Bruce, but with other band members too, especially new band member Jake Clemons. Springsteen family members appeared on stage for this song on occasion, with mother Adele doing the 'Courteney Cox' dance at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia at the start of the tour, and daughter Jessica dancing on stage with Bruce in Paris on July 5.

Music video
Directed by Brian De Palma, the video was shot at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 28 and 29, 1984. The first night was a pure video shot, the second was on the opening date of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed the song twice during that show to allow Brian De Palma to get all the footage he needed. The video is a straight performance video, with Springsteen not playing a guitar, allowing him to invite a young woman from the audience, performed by Courteney Cox, to dance along with him on the stage at the end. In September 1985, the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance.

Chart performance
Released as a single prior to the album's release, the song spent four weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (his highest charting song to date) in June–July 1984 (it was kept off the No. 1 spot by two songs, Duran Duran's "The Reflex" and Prince's "When Doves Cry"). It did reach No. 1 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart. It was also the first of a record-tying seven top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. "Dancing in the Dark" also held the No. 1 spot for six weeks on Billboard's Top Tracks chart. The song reached No. 1 on the Radio & Records CHR and AOR airplay charts.

In the UK, "Dancing in the Dark" originally reached number 28 in the UK Singles Chart when released in May 1984. However, the song re-entered the chart in January 1985 and subsequently reached number 4, becoming the 29th best-selling single of the year.

The recording also won Springsteen his first Grammy Award, picking up the prize for Best Rock Vocal Performance in 1985. In the 1984 Rolling Stone readers poll, "Dancing in the Dark" was voted "Single of the Year". The track has since gone on to 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.

7": Columbia / 38-04463

 * 1) "Dancing in the Dark" - 3:59
 * 2) "Pink Cadillac" - 3:33

12": Columbia / 44-05028

 * 1) "Dancing in the Dark" (Blaster Mix) - 6:09
 * 2) "Dancing in the Dark" (Radio) - 4:50
 * 3) "Dancing in the Dark" (Dub) - 5:30

12": Epic / TA4436

 * 1) "Dancing in the Dark" (Extended Remix) - 6:09
 * 2) "Pink Cadillac" - 3:33


 * The B-side of the single, "Pink Cadillac", was a comic rockabilly tale about the virtues (and vices) of a colourful Cadillac; in 1988 it became a #5 hit for Natalie Cole.

Cover versions

 * 1985: Big Daddy
 * 1985: Tina Turner (Live version)
 * 1986: The Shadows
 * 1989: London Philharmonic Orchestra
 * 1993: Zip Code Rapists (Live version at CBGB, released on CD in 2006)
 * 1997: Kermit the Frog (Muppets Tonight episode)
 * 1998: Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers (Rock the Party!)
 * 1999: Mary Chapin Carpenter
 * 2001: Pete Yorn
 * 2006: Tegan and Sara
 * 2009: Nat and Alex Wolff (Live Version)
 * 2009: Amy MacDonald (Live version)
 * 2009: White Lies (Live Version)
 * 2010: Dan Black (named "Drowning in the Dark Drake")
 * 2011: Sara Beck (Sara Lyn Beck) 2nd track from "A Simple Thing"
 * 2013: Ruth Moody
 * 2013: Editors (Live version)
 * 2013: Eddie Berman and Laura Marling
 * 2013: Dowsing
 * 2013: The South African trio Mark Haze (from Idols South Africa season seven), Dozi and Ghapi recorded a version on their album "Rocking Buddies".
 * 2013: Kathryn Williams
 * 2014: Morgan James
 * 2015: Downtown Boys
 * 2015: Hot Chip (live) (mixed with LCD Soundsystem's 'All My Friends and Purple Rain by Prince)
 * 2016: Marit Larsen
 * 2016: Jackie Greene at The Stone Pony