Dancing In the Dark

5 credits

Heard in the following movies & tv shows

Promised Land

2012

3.4K

The Place Beyond The Pines

2013

8.6K

Blinded by the Light

2019

104

The Stranger • s1e2

2020

452

The Stranger • s1e1

2020

1.4K

Lyrics

I get up in the evenin' And I ain't got nothin' to say I come home in the mornin' I go to bed feelin' the same way I ain't nothin' but tired Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself Hey there, baby, I could use just a little help You can't start a fire You can't start a fire without a spark This gun's for hire Even if we're just dancin' in the dark Messages keeps gettin' clearer Radio's on and I'm movin' 'round my place I check my look in the mirror Wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face Man, I ain't gettin' nowhere I'm just livin' in a dump like this There's somethin' happenin' somewhere Baby, I just know that there is You can't start a fire You can't start a fire without a spark This gun's for hire Even if we're just dancin' in the dark You sit around gettin' older There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me I'll shake this world off my shoulders Come on, baby, the laugh's on me Stay on the streets of this town And they'll be carvin' you up alright They say you gotta stay hungry Hey baby, I'm just about starvin' tonight I'm dyin' for some action I'm sick of sittin' 'round here tryin' to write this book I need a love reaction Come on now, baby, gimme just one look You can't start a fire Sittin' 'round cryin' over a broken heart This gun's for hire Even if we're just dancin' in the dark You can't start a fire Worryin' about your little world fallin' apart This gun's for hire Even if we're just dancin' in the dark Even if we're just dancin' in the dark Even if we're just dancin' in the dark Even if we're just dancin' in the dark Hey baby

About

Springsteen wrote "Dancing in the Dark" surrounding his difficulty writing a hit single and his frustration trying to write songs that will please people. Springsteen had a very successful decade with six critically acclaimed studio albums and a superstar concert reputation. "Dancing in the Dark" ended up forming the last song in his album "Born in the USA", after his manager demanded a 'hit' that he deemed the album was missing. Springsteen already thought the album was complete. He had completed over 70 tracks for the album and already had to find a way to reduce it down to just 12. So when his manager demanded an additional hit single, Bruce was supposedly furious and unreceptive to his manager's request. It was said this song was born that same night, out of anger and frustration, as Bruce eventually accepted the request, slumped to his hotel room, and managed to produce a #1 hit in a single night. This song then went on to be Bruce Springsteen's best hit single and drove the accompanying tracks on his latest album to the top of the charts, across the world. It won Springsteen his first grammy in 1985, for best male vocal and was voted Rolling Stones Single of the Year by its readers. Once you understand the circumstances around which Bruce wrote the song, many of the lyrics seemingly make a lot more sense and have strong themes of isolation, existentialism, and frustration with the industry he had found himself in. The song features in a few movies and television shows such as Promised Land (2013), The Place Beyond the Pines (2013), as well as the Netflix original, The Stranger (2020).