Nicole Atkins — Dancing in the Dark
Album: Dead Man’s Town: A Tribute to Born in the USAAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 351
Length: 4:47
Plays (last 30 days): 2
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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 a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Message keeps getting clearer
Radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man, I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
Baby, I just know that there is
You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on, baby, the laugh's on me
Stay on the streets of this town
And they'll be carving you up all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey, baby, I'm just about starving tonight
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now, baby, gimme just one look
You can't start a fire
Sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Hey, baby
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 a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Message keeps getting clearer
Radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man, I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
Baby, I just know that there is
You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on, baby, the laugh's on me
Stay on the streets of this town
And they'll be carving you up all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey, baby, I'm just about starving tonight
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now, baby, gimme just one look
You can't start a fire
Sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Hey, baby
Comments (23)add comment
I really like this version, maybe even better than the original. Has real "Twin Peaks" vibes.
hellsgardener wrote:
Your comment has been nagging me all this while - I agree, from my "Alpha Male" perspective. "This gun's for hire" once quite literally.
But women I have known - very desirable, competent women - probably would have sounded like this...
I don't dislike this because of her voice, which is fine, or the stripped back music. BUT this is a raw, desperate song - with lyrics that are designed to punch. So, for me as a cover this just doesn't work because it has declawed everything the song is about.
If she were singing something else I would probably like it
Your comment has been nagging me all this while - I agree, from my "Alpha Male" perspective. "This gun's for hire" once quite literally.
But women I have known - very desirable, competent women - probably would have sounded like this...
Delawhere wrote:
Totally agree. They should rename this the cover station
okay enough already of the stripped down bare naked sleepy versions of great songs. I'm not saying it's bad, just I'm hearing too many of them on radio Paradise anymore. Give the originals and new music some love. Or is there just not that much of that out there now, maybe that's the deal?
Totally agree. They should rename this the cover station
dear god this sucks
WHY all the covers??
WHY all the covers??
Bruce on valium!
I don't dislike this because of her voice, which is fine, or the stripped back music. BUT this is a raw, desperate song - with lyrics that are designed to punch. So, for me as a cover this just doesn't work because it has declawed everything the song is about.
If she were singing something else I would probably like it
If she were singing something else I would probably like it
vandal wrote:
Me too!!! Straight 8 as well!
First listen, I really like it.
8
Me too!!! Straight 8 as well!
okay enough already of the stripped down bare naked sleepy versions of great songs. I'm not saying it's bad, just I'm hearing too many of them on radio Paradise anymore. Give the originals and new music some love. Or is there just not that much of that out there now, maybe that's the deal?
Bill,
Your right, as a Springsteen fan, I might like it. But right now it's a nah.
I am feeling a Twin Peaks vibe behind her vocals.
Your right, as a Springsteen fan, I might like it. But right now it's a nah.
I am feeling a Twin Peaks vibe behind her vocals.
No, no, no, no no! 
Alastair wrote:
Sadly agree. Though I quite like the sound - this song is about desperation.
It can't be sung like this.
Yet another breathy cover of a song by someone who doesn't understand the song she's singing. Stop it RP
Sadly agree. Though I quite like the sound - this song is about desperation.
It can't be sung like this.
shurlbert wrote:
Julee Cruise! Good take!
Julee Cruise meets Bruce Springsteen!
Julee Cruise! Good take!
Yet another breathy cover of a song by someone who doesn't understand the song she's singing. Stop it RP
First listen, I really like it.
8
8
I'm enjoying this cover. Really like the arrangement and what it brings to make it different - slowed & stripped down and slightly off-kilter (off-kilter in an appealing way to me anyway). The one thing I'm not sold on are the piano interludes. Doesn't mesh well with the rest imo. Just give me the heavy synth and the rest.
I like this quite a bit!
Nah- I just can't
I normally won't be less than positive, but, no.
I normally won't be less than positive, but, no.
shurlbert wrote:
This VERSION is a lot more Julee Cruise-ish and quite a bit better IMHO.
Julee Cruise meets Bruce Springsteen!
This VERSION is a lot more Julee Cruise-ish and quite a bit better IMHO.
GEEZ
another one of these effortless covers
she may be good, but this is a snooze fest
another one of these effortless covers
she may be good, but this is a snooze fest
Julee Cruise meets Bruce Springsteen!
Yup, I'll take it.
I like it!
I don't dislike this because of her voice, which is fine, or the stripped back music. BUT this is a raw, desperate song - with lyrics that are designed to punch. So, for me as a cover this just doesn't work because it has declawed everything the song is about.
If she were singing something else I would probably like it
Raw and desperate can take on many different forms I guess. To me this cover is not devoid of the one nor the other. I find it rather harrowing, and that breathes excellence in the way it's arranged. Not all punches come in a Rocky Balboa or Beatrix Kiddo fashion, and I think Nicole Atkins does understand what she's singing here very well. Listen to that line 'Worrying about your little world falling apart', walk around the corner and stumble into that pitchdark abyss of self-doubt..... Very well done, like Cash's rendition of NIN's Hurt or Jacke White's Love is Blindness