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Favorite Springsteen song #413
Dancing in the Dark
The song starts like most songs do. As an invitation for lonely resentful hate sex with a stranger. And while this mating ritual has long been popular in post agrarian societies, Springsteen finds himself peculiarly transformed when confronted by the realization that we are all alone in a cold and indifferent universe.
His transformation gives birth to the idea that, Hey! While we’re stuck in this lonely dead embrace, maybe we just take a chance on love. I mean lets gas up the car and drive around the countryside eating bad food and listening to the radio. Sure, we’ll both be devoured by the darkness in the end, but maybe if you just sit next to me in this unsafe street rod for a little while we’ll at the very least have the memory of this one moment of love and freedom to guide us, while we spend the rest of our lives punching a clock in a bottomless cave of ignorance.
No wonder that Rolling Stone readers voted it the ‘song of the year’ in 1985.