| DANCING IN THE DARK - V1a | 4:31 | BUERM / 1984AC |
| DANCING IN THE DARK - V1b | 3:57 | BITUSA / GREATEST / ESSENTIAL / GREATEST: 2009 / BESTOF |
| DANCING IN THE DARK - V2a blaster mix | 6:09 | 1984 EP |
| DANCING IN THE DARK - V2b radio mix | 4:50 | 1984 EP |
| DANCING IN THE DARK - V2c dub mix | 5:30 | 1984 EP |
Note: The last song on Born In The U.S.A. to be recorded. Written after Jon Landau convinced Bruce that the album needed a single. According to Dave Marsh in Glory Days, Bruce was not impressed with Landau's approach. "Look," he snarled, "I've written seventy songs. You want another one, you write it." Despite this reaction, Bruce sat in his hotel room and wrote the song in a single night, essentially writing about his frustrations, sick of "trying to write this book." Six takes were cut on February 14, 1984 at The Hit Factory, utilizing a new Yamaha synthesizer, but the track was not completed until March 8, after 58 mixes. Just the one outtake of "Dancing In The Dark" circulates, V1a, that contains a longer sax solo and a hard-ending (no fade-out) at the end that was cut short for the official album version. Curiously, the final synthesizer note is held for a few seconds at the conclusion of the song. This take is sourced from a March 1984 rough cut of the album. The 7" and 12" singles were released on May 9, 1984, and the 12" finished as the biggest seller in the U.S.A. that year.
V2a thru V2c are extended, radio friendly dance/disco remixes cut at the Power Station in April or early May 1984 by Arthur Baker, at the request of Columbia Records. The recording engineer for the remixes was Chris Lord-Alge. Providing the backing female vocals are Cindy Mizelle, Jocelyn Brown, and Baker's then-wife Tina B. Mizelle would later join the Sessions Band in 2006, and then become an E Street regular as a member of the E Street Choir between 2009 and 2014. These remixes were released on June 29, 1984.