Monday, March 5, 2012

Dancing In The Dark





My first introduction to Bruce Springsteen occurred in 2009, while living with my best friend. He was and probably still is an avid fan. For him, the boss’ best material exists on Born To Run. I still remember him singing (and Springsteen’s singing is more like yelling) along to “tenth avenue freezeout” while we would get ready to go to a bar or a party. I didn’t get it.


One day, about a year later, the track “Born to Run” came on my itunes. It was a revelation. The boss understands urgency as I experience it in my darkest moments, but also in my most excited states. He communicates it as I feel it: that the moment of utter desperation is also the moment of greatest power, because it’s at that point that you have nothing left to lose. I think back to my friend singing along while we got ready to go to the bar, and it is not so hard to understand why Springsteen is the perfect soundtrack to a fresh night.


I immediately related to his hope that there exists a life beyond what is handed down to us by blood or circumstance or both. Bruce’s characters are more than a little paranoid, but they are also tragically acquiescent. At some point shortly after this, I heard “Dancing In The Dark” for the first time. Rather, I watched it – the music video for the song is actually a live performance from 1984, featuring a cameo by a young Courteney Cox at the end. Never has loneliness looked so exciting. I blame bruce’s dancing for this.


This song excites the part of me that envisions myself as a daring yet average, powerful yet sad guy – someone who would take his life into his own hands if there were only enough time after the shift ended. The video (and the original recording) interprets the song as a celebration of loneliness. I found a lot of territory left to explore once I got over the Boss’ bravado and the sheer 80’s-ness of it.

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