Dancing with Tears in My Eyes

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"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"
Ultravox-DWTIME.png
Single by Ultravox
from the album Lament
B-side "Building"
Released11 May 1984
Genre
Length4:10
Label Chrysalis
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Ultravox
Ultravox singles chronology
"One Small Day"
(1984)		"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"
(1984)		"Lament"
(1984)

"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" is the second single from Lament , Ultravox's seventh studio album, released on 11 May 1984. [4]

Contents

The single effectively put Ultravox back on the map, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, [5] and reaching the top 10 in several European countries. The song also entered the Australian and Canadian top 75 but failed to chart in the US.

The 7" single was released in three versions: with a standard picture sleeve, with a gate-fold booklet sleeve, and with a gate-fold booklet sleeve and a clear vinyl disc. All versions had the same catalogue number, "UV 1", and the same tracks. The 12" was released in two versions, with the same catalogue number "UVX 1": in a stickered gatefold sleeve containing a band poster and in a standard picture sleeve.

"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" was the second song that Ultravox performed during the Live Aid charity event at the old Wembley Stadium, on 13 July 1985, for which Ure also played the lead guitar. [6]

Background

According to lead singer Midge Ure, the lyrics were inspired by the Nevil Shute book On the Beach , which is about a group of people in Australia awaiting nuclear radiation stemming from a nuclear war in the Northern Hemisphere. "They knew it was the end but they had time to think about how they wanted to choose their final moments", Ure stated, "And that’s what “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” was about." [7]

Music video

The music video was directed by Chris Cross and Midge Ure. The video follows an interpretation of the lyrics that differs from the original inspiration found in the novel On the Beach. Instead of depicting the impact and aftermath of nuclear war, the premise of the video is a catastrophic meltdown at an unnamed civilian nuclear power station in the United Kingdom. Band members Chris Cross, Warren Cann and Billy Currie play workers and a police officer at the power station, with Midge Ure playing the narrator, a man seeking to return home to his family amidst scenes of mass panic and the breakdown of ordinary life. The video thereafter depicts the actions of the narrator as described in the song; dancing with his wife (interpreted by Diana Weston), [8] listening to music, drinking champagne and awaiting the end. The song concludes over the impact of a nuclear explosion viewed from inside the narrator's house, producing the windblown living room scene depicted on the cover of the single. The video ends over silent cinefilm home movies of the narrator and his family in happier times, before the film is burned away by overexposure. [9]

The song and music video reflected contemporary concerns around the issues of nuclear power as well as the threat of nuclear conflict. Both were released five years after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States and in the year after the escalation of Cold War tensions following the announcement of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative and the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. The music video was also a near-contemporary of the BBC nuclear war drama Threads , which similarly depicted the psychological impact of impending nuclear catastrophe and its aftermath on the British population.

Track listing

7" vinyl

  • UK: Chrysalis – UV 1
  • Germany: Chrysalis – 106 449
  • US: Chrysalis – VS4 42781
  • Canada: Chrysalis – CHS – 42781
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"4:10
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Building"3:11

12" vinyl (UK and Europe)

  • UK: Chrysalis - UVX 1
  • Germany: Chrysalis - 601 322
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (Special Re-Mix)10:00
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"4:10
2."Building"3:11

12" vinyl (North America)

  • US: Chrysalis – 4V9 42783
  • Canada: Chrysalis – CS 42783
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (Extended)7:44
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."One Small Day" (Club Version)7:48

Chart performance

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References

  1. ↑ Pain, Andrew (24 May 2013). "Midge Ure at the ARC in Stockton – An intimate evening with pop legend". Gazette Live. Retrieved 7 May 2014. the likes of Vienna, Reap the Wild Wind and Dancing with Tears in My Eyes becoming instant synth-pop classics.
  2. ↑ "Ultravox tours Germany in November". Sixth Sense. 21 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2013. After a string of synthpop hits, including Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, the band split in 1986, with lead singer Midge Ure going on to solo success.
  3. ↑ "MUSICBIRD ACQUIRES THE CATALOGUE OF MIDGE URE". MusicBird.
  4. ↑ Ure, Midge (2004). If I Was... The Autobiography. Virgin Books. p. 271. ISBN   9781852271442.
  5. 1 2 "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Interview: Ultravox and Live Aid singer Midge Ure reveals what embarrasses him". North Devon Journal . 30 March 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Derrough, Leslie Michele (6 August 2018). "Midge Ure of Ultravox Talks Highly Influential Career & Current Tour With Paul Young (INTERVIEW)". Glide Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ↑ Ultravox: Dancing with Tears in My Eyes (Music Video 1984) - IMDb , retrieved 30 October 2022
  9. ↑ Ultravox - Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Official Music Video) , retrieved 30 October 2022
  10. ↑ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989, part 2". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6799." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "Le Détail par Artiste". InfoDisc (in French). Select "Ultravox" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 29, 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  17. ↑ "Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  18. ↑ "Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  19. ↑ "Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  20. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1998). Bubbling Under Singles & Albums. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 205. ISBN   0-89820-128-4.
  21. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 1984" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  22. ↑ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 . Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1984" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  24. ↑ "Top 100 Singles 1984" (PDF). Music Week. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
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