Song · Ultravox
“Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” by Ultravox
From the album Lament (1984)
“Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” by Ultravox appears on 14 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1984 and 2023. It was first released in 1984 on the album Lament. Its best result is #76 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1984. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #162 alternative song of 1984 and #2,959 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (Ultravox). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" arrived in May 1984 as the second single from Lament, Ultravox's seventh album, and it's a synth-pop anthem with the bomb hanging over it. Midge Ure took the idea from Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach, in which people in Australia wait for the radiation drifting down after a nuclear war in the north, and the song turns that slow countdown into a question of how you'd choose to spend your final hours.
All four of them, Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann, share the writing credit, and the band produced it themselves, with Ure singing lead. It climbed to No. 3 at home, though not everyone was won over: Smash Hits' Dave Rimmer grumbled that Ultravox were recycling old ideas. Cross and Ure directed the video.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 76 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1984 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 496 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1989 | 443 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 396 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 1995 | 464 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) | 500 |
| 1999 | 470 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 1826 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 1999 | 110 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2000 | 1828 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1832 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1428 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2021 | 713 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 481 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2023 | 828 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
Also listed as: Dancing With Tears in My Eyes; Dancing With Tears in my Eyes; Dancing with Tears In My Eyes; Dancing with Tears in my eyes; Dancing with Tears in My Eyes.
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