I found this single out in the wild and being a fan of Billy Squier, I had to have it. “In the Dark” was the second single off his massively successful album, ‘Don’t Say No’. The song was released as a single in August 1981 and went all the way to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Billy’s second Top 40 Single with the first being “The Stroke” obviously! Like all Billy Songs, they were written by him which goes to show how talented he was. A very underrated artist and terrible he was shut out and basically black-balled over one ridiculous video, but that is a story for another time.

My version of the single is standard US version and has “Whadda You Want From Me” as the B-Side. The picture sleeve is the same picture on both sides which I find to be rather lazy personally but are you buying it for picture, probably not.

A-SIDE:

The song seems to be about a big secret. You can interpret it any way you want, but I see it as someone that has the normal face that the public sees, but there is also a darkness, troubled secret that they are hiding from everyone. It could be a drug addiction, sex addiction, a relationship that isn’t good for you or even someone still in the closet. Back in 1981, that would’ve been a big secret to keep. Wouldn’t be much of a big deal today with most people.

The single is edited from the studio version most notably the dramatic intro was cut to get down to the meat of the song. It is a solid rocker, with a great catchy chorus and a driving keyboard riff that bounces along with each line of the chorus. There is some great guitar playing by Billy and the “ah ah ah’s” at the end let it go out in style. A really cool, hard rocker and a great opening track on the album.

B-SIDE:

The B-Side is “Whadda You Want From Me” which is an even heavier rocker than “In the Dark”. It’s tribal, heavy drum beat to start it off then a pounding beat through out accompanied by some slide guitar from Cary Sharaf that is both bluesy and rocking. Billy attacks the lyrics with that great Squier vocals. A good time, fun track and pretty dang good B-Side.

The song seems to be about a girl that seems to be giving signals that is go time and then the sign turns to a big hand flashing “don’t walk”! She doesn’t know if she wants you are she doesn’t. Total confusion and probably not worth the time. You are who you are and you aren’t changing for her so what does she really want. Who hasn’t had that type of relationship.

And there you have it. Another single from the growing collection. We will bring you another one very soon. Until then, have a great day!