Dancing in the dark with Bruce Springsteen

As a little girl, I remember my mom saying that Bruce Springsteen was the sexiest man alive. Megan and I would giggle and repeat delightedly, "Bruce Stringbean, Bruce Stringbean!" until my mom would say, "That's enough." Other than "Born in the USA," I don't really recall knowing any Bruce Springsteen songs until my freshman year in high school, where I would rewind Bruce's live version of "Hungry Heart" over and over on my walkman and stare dreamily into space just one more time as his passionate and heartbreaking lyrics made me melt.

And then I discovered "Dancing in the Dark." I think Kenny and I were in the grocery store last week when I heard that song on the piped-in music, and my ears perked up. Sure, I'd heard it before, but never gave it any mind, sure that "Hungry Heart" was Bruce Springsteen's magnum opus. ("Hungry Heart" inescapably reminds me of Kenny, since it makes me think of the East Coast and tough but passionate guys, and Kenny is a tough and passionate guy from the East Coast.) I went home and downloaded "Dancing in the Dark," along with some other songs that I wanted to hear more often. Innocently, expecting only to be entertained for a few moments, I listened to the song on my iPod (which recently arrived from an extended stay in New York - thank you, Pat Baldwin!) and suddenly found myself pushing the repeat button over and over. I couldn't get enough. Something about that song grabbed me in a way that few songs do, viscerally and wholeheartedly. I was irrevocably Bruce's.

Kenny laughed when I mentioned the song to him and, shaking his head, fondly recounted a Saturday Night Live sketch where Adam Sandler mimics the Boss by singing that song and shaking his butt all over the stage. So tonight, with impish delight, Kenny looked up the video, and sure enough, Adam Sandler does a pretty hilarious rendition of "Dancing in the Dark" in that goofy voice that pops up no matter what character he's playing. In retaliation, I looked up Bruce's actual video, and after all these years, realized succinctly that my mom was right (as she always is) - Bruce Springsteen is the sexiest man alive.

The video opens with Bruce swinging his hips and dancing around the stage, delighting and dazzling the cheering fans. "What is with those rolled-up sleeves?" Kenny rolled his eyes. "The eighties saw a throw-back to the fifties," I explained loyally. "He was a greaser." Sighhh. "Oh, my gosh!" I squealed, as Bruce grinned playfully at the audience and crooned, "This gun's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the dark." "Those baby eyes and that bad boy exterior just get to me!" "What bad-boy exterior?" Kenny scoffed. "How bad could he be? He's Jewish. What's he gonna do - eat pork?" I glared at him with my nose in the air, while stifling traitorous laughter. "He's a bad boy. Just look at those tight jeans. Whoo!"

So just for you, my readers, I have included below the video that raises my temperature a few degrees each time I see it (so far, that's been around five times). I hope you thrill to see it just like I do. If this gun's for hire, I'm screaming, "Sold!!!" Bruce Springsteen can dance with me in the dark any day!




And just to be fair to Kenny, here is Adam Sandler's take:



P.S. It's too bad that Bruce Springsteen is such a liberal - otherwise I could stare dreamily at his fantastic butt all day with impunity.