Piltdown Man, ink and Polaroid collage, 2005. The work is slightly larger than reproduced here. The driving force behind the text are the lyrics from “Dancing in the Dark,” by Bruce Springsteen, available on the Columbia record album Born in the U.S.A.
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Oh man. Best Springsteen reference in a photo-collage ever. No, I’m serious—it works beautifully in this. I love it.
agreed. it’s my favorite song for fall.
My question is, has the time come—and clearly it’s come for me, Gorjus, and Brad, but I’m talking about for Springsteen enthusiasts generally—when we can stop being embarassed about “Dancing in the Dark” and assert, proudly, that it’s a great pop song whose only fault is no fault of its own, that is to say, oversaturation of the airwaves for the past 20 years?
I make this pledge: no more will I say, to someone who cocks an eyebrow at my Springsteen fandom, “Well, yeah, no, Dancing in the Dark is kind of dumb, but have you heard Nebraska? It’s genius!” They’re both genius, dammit.
Who’s with me?
(weakly) I AM!
Here’s the cred problems with “Dancing in the Dark”: Courteney Cox in the video (in my hometown of Birmingham!), cheesy (if hook-filled) synth riff, 12” maxi-remix single (which I own, OH do I own it).
I’ve found that in some later Springsteen I’ve had to sift through a couple of layers to find the wonder—which he’s done an excellent job with himself on the most recent tour, spinning dross from “Lucky Town” into gold.
But you’re right, Prof.—this song is fantastic. The lyrics are among my favorite of all time. I really deliberated them last nite—as you might be able to discern, they’re excerpted. No chorus, here, and I left out a lot of the desperate braggadocio.
Well, look, if we hate every Bruce song with a crummy video, we’ll hate every Bruce song there was every a video for.
“No chorus, here, and I left out a lot of the desperate braggadocio” – This is the part I appreciate the most! For some reason I thought this was Spoon for like, ten seconds. Duh.
speaking of spoon and nebraska, uhm, has anyone heard that sun kil moon take on modest mouse? he did a whole album of stark acoustic renditions of MM tunes. wow. just got “neverending math equation” off itunes.
I got “Ocean Breathes Salty” off Stereogum. Meh.
I like those Sun Kil Moon songs better than some of the last Modest Mouse record.
Great stuff, gorjus, but David Hockney’s headed to MS with vengeance on his mind! Ha!
I’m already there. In the last few years when i’ve come across dancing in the dark on the radio, i’m often taken aback at how well done the damn thing is! its an excellent and likeable song, and any oversaturation was YEARS ago (20?), so i say let go the grudge! as for courtney cox, she’s HOT and you shouldn’t complain about hot ladies.
Dancing in the Dark…great song…bad,bad,bad 80’s keyboards and production values.
Imagine a re-recorded—and perhaps Brendan O Brian produced—version?
S
This would be the Brendan O’Brien who produced The Rising? Who is at least partially responsible for the abomination against the Lord that is the Color Me Badd homage “Skin to Skin”? I’ll keep my cheesy synth riffs, thanks.
Okay, here’s go nothing:
I think Born in the U.S.A. is every bit as good as Born to Run. Sure it sounds like 80’s FM radio, but why does that have to be a bad thing? It captures the feel a specific a time; form follows function and all that. I like the songs, the detail-heavy lyrics, the nostalgia, the Everyman characters, all of it.
They say you gotta stay hungry. Well I’m just about starving tonight.
I agree. It’s a woefully misunderstood song, just like “Dancing in the Dark,” mainly because of the production values, Annie Liebowitz iconic/heroic photography (as contrasted with the Darkness Everyman images, Bruce in this time-period is superheroic), and popularity. I think it’s an absolutely massive song, and the “secrets” in it are revealed in the Nebraska-era solo work-up, where it’s quiet, dark, and mumbled.
For your listening pleasure, I’ve posted two alternate versions of “Dancing in the Dark”: a stripped-down and countrified version from the Reunion Tour, and a slightly sped-up and un-synthed version from the Rising Tour. And one to a Rising-era rendition of “Born in the USA,” too. Enjoy!
Wow. The one from the Rising tour is fan-TAS-tic. His vocals are incredible. And, is violin the new synthesizer? Because, I sure hope so!
Man, me too. I seem to remember there being more guitar on the version I heard at the Lexington Rising show, but then again, these are not what you would call professionally recorded. At the show I saw, the crowd roar that went up when he asked for a “love reaction” was chill-inducing, I don’t mind saying. And although I like the country version—mostly for the accordion and for the coda—he still sounds a little embarassed about the song.