What does Dancing in the Dark mean?

Bruce Springsteen: Dancing in the Dark Meaning

Album cover for Dancing in the Dark album cover
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Dancing in the Dark Lyrics

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...

  1. anonymous
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    Feb 24th 2022 !⃝

    Dancing in the Dark = Sex - he is looking for someone to have sex with (nothing new there then) but isn't getting anywhere- "I need a love reaction , baby give me just one look" - or is look correct ? "This gun's for hire" = I am available "I'm dying for some action" - I need sex . It's what makes the world go round !!

  2. anonymous
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    Nov 30th 2020 !⃝

    I work nights and the opening kind of sounds a lot like how you feel working nights. Get up in the evening (dredding tonight's shift) come home in the morning feeling the same way (no one awake but you = boredom) you ain't nothing but tired (bingo) and you feeling like theirs more out there than the monotony of the night shift at that moment in time. You just desire a spark to start a fire to feel alive again. Well thats my idea anyway!!!

  3. anonymous
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    Aug 11th 2020 !⃝

    this song reminds me of today with the black lives matter protests and how the death of george floyd was the “spark” to the “fire” determined to change the way society and our world is.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  4. anonymous
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    Dec 10th 2019 !⃝

    I think this is what makes music so amazing. Apparently, the meaning behind the song is Springsteen's attempt to come up with a new hit single for the "Born in the USA" album. However, as I have been hearing this track on the radio, it has taken on different meanings. As a kid growing up in the mid 80s, I took the lyrics at face value, thinking it was about dancing in the dark. Then I lived life a little (high school, partying, college, military,marriage, random jobs) trying to find myself and my purpose. Now I'm in my mid 30s and while I have some answers, i'm still trying to figure shit out. This song speaks volumes. 'Waking up and going to bed feeling the same way' is reminiscent of when life throws you a curve ball and you spend weeks trying to mentally navigate. 'I ain't nothing but tired' reminds me of working graveyard production jobs. They enabled me to provide, but I was always knew there was more to life than working like a dog. 'Wanna change my hair, my clothes, my face'. Who really knows what demons Springsteen was grappling with? To me, those lines have to go deeper than a guy just trying to come up with a hit single. Maybe I'm just a sapp. Regardless, This track is timeless. Respect to 'the boss'

  5. anonymous
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    Oct 16th 2018 !⃝

    Working class love, middle class love, all kind of love, can't start a fire without a spark, need a love reaction if it just a fuck, at least its a fuck.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 8th 2017 !⃝

    I just sent the video to my young son who is struggling with girls, boredom frustration. I grew up with the song, the Boss in the 80s. I think it's about finding a guy just wanting something different, a spark as he says. if that ends up being just a shared dance in the dark with someone, he would be content. It doesn't have to be a romance, or a life long commitment, Just a moment to share with someone in the dark shadows of life.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 30th 2016 !⃝

    I think it's about depression. Or maybe about winning against depression. He needs to do something because if not he'll continue to feel "worthless". He wants to be happy again, but he is not happy with the way he is now (wanting to change the way he looks-he is inside). He's so tired of those feelings he even has considered suicide but he won't if he finds suport in whoever he's signing to.

  8. anonymous
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    Apr 15th 2012 !⃝

    My brother swears it's about a hit man. I don't think so.

  9. anonymous
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    Sep 28th 2011 !⃝

    Sitting around suffering over a broken heart. Same thing every day..same thing every night.bored and not happy with life...


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