The cover of Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 single, “Dancing in the Dark.”
Bruce Springsteen has one more show on his current European tour: It takes place today at Wembley Stadium in London. And he also has a Top 40 hit on Billboard’s U.K. singles chart: “Dancing in the Dark,” originally released in 1984, when it rose to the No. 4 position on that chart.
It is currently at the No. 36 position, sandwiched between Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” and Billie Eilish’s “Chihiro.”
How did that happen? It has to do with the UEFA Euro 2024 soccer tournament, which lasted from June 14 to July 14. England’s team — which made the finals, but lost to Spain — has a star player named Phil Foden, and during the tournament, a chant based on “Dancing on the Dark” became popular among the English team’s fans: “Can’t start a fire/Can’t start a fire without a spark/Phil Foden’s on fire/He’ll be playing the Germans off the park.”
For reasons I haven’t been able to figure out, it remains “Germans” no matter which team the English are playing; the tournament was held in Germany, but England never played Germany in it. Also, adding to the weirdness of all this, Foden’s play in the tournament was, by all accounts, subpar.
If any soccer fans have details to add, please do, in the “Comments” section, below.
You can listen to the song being sung in this video from England’s June 20 game with Denmark.
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