Song title: Dancing in the dark
Dancing in the dark
I get up in the evening,
and I ain’t got nothing to say
I come home in the morning,
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain’t nothing 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 dancing in the dark
Message keeps getting clearer,
radio’s on and I’m moving round the place
I check myself out in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes my hair my face
Man I ain’t getting nowhere
just sitting in a dump like this
There’s something happening somewhere
baby I just know that there is
You can’t start a fire...
You sit around getting older
there’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me
I’ll shake this world off my shoulders
come baby this laughs on me
Stay on the streets of this town
and they’ll be carving you up alright
They say you got to stay hungry
hey baby I’m just about starving tonight
I’m dying for some action
I’m sick of sitting ‘round here
trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
come on now baby give me just one look
You can’t start a fire..
Published on the following official releases:
- DANCING IN THE DARK (STEREO / STEREO) (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / PINK CADILLAC (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK (ONE SIDED) (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / BORN IN THE USA (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / MY HOMETOWN (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY (7 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK (BLASTER / RADIO - DUB) (12 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO (12 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / LAURA BRANNINGAN SONG (12 in.,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK EP (STEREO / STEREO) (12 in.,1984)
- BORN IN THE USA (Album,1984)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / PINK CADILLAC (12 in.,1984)
- BITUSA - COVER ME / DANCING - NO SURRENDER (7 in.,1984)
- COVER ME - JERSEY GIRL / DANCING IN THE DARK (12 in.,1984)
- COVER ME + DANCING IN THE DARK - TWIN PACK (7 in.,1984)
- BORN IN THE USA 12 SINGLES COLLECTION (12 in.,1985)
- CBS - AYLESBURY (LP,1985)
- DANCING IN THE DARK / OTHERS ("FOUR SUPER ROCKS") (7 in.,1985)
- LEVI'S PROMO (12 in.,1985)
- LIGUE - SE NO ROCKY (LP,1985)
- COVER ME (2 MIXES) - SHUT OUT … / DANCING - JERSEY (12 in.,1985)
- GREATEST HITS (Album,1995)
- THE ESSENTIAL BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (Album,2003)
- LIVE IN BARCELONA (Album,2004)
- SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY (Album,2018)
First known live performance: 26/05/1984 XANADU, Asbury Park,NJ ,USA
Last known live performance: 15/12/2018 Walter Kerr Theatre, New York,NY ,USA
Song 'history':
Bruce gave this song one only shot through the 1982-1984 period, during which Bruce played, with various small groups or guesting, in a number of bars and small clubs of the New Jersey area (26/05/1984 XANADU, Asbury Park,NJ ,USA)
Published on BORN IN THE USA, in 1984
A stable inclusion in each Born in the U.S.A. tour show
Played at the Bridge Benefit show, 13-Oct-1986.
A pretty regular inclusion during the Tunnel of Love tour, left aside just 4 times
Performed 9 times during the 1988 Amnesty International tour
The Human Touch tour counted 15 apparitions of this song
The song was then included in the GREATEST HITS compilation, released in 1995.
Two only performances during the Reunion tour (30/04/2000 Firstar Center, Cincinnati,OH ,USA and 12/06/2000 Madison Square Garden, New York,NY ,USA)
Perfomed in a large number of shows (113) of the Rising tour
The Barcelona show of the Rising tour was broadcast and released on DVD 'LIVE IN BARCELONA', which included also this song
The song was then included in the ESSENTIAL compilation, released in 2003.
In the Devils and Dust tour, the song was only practiced (16/07/2005 Pepsi arena, Albany,NY ,USA, during the soundcheck.)
but never played in the regular set.
Widely used in the Magic tour, as it was performed 72 times
Perfomed in a large number of shows (62) of the Working on a Dream tour
During the Wrecking Ball tour, the song was regularly included in every show
A stable inclusion in each High Hopes tour show
Played each night of the 2016 The River tour
Published in live soundtrack of 'Springsteen on Broadway' show
Performed 14 times during the 2017 Summer tour
A real milestone of each setlist of the Springsteen on Broadway tour
The song was also played in informal happenings or off-tour appearances
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database