Dancing with Myself

"Dancing with Myself" is a song by English punk rock band Gen X, first released in the United Kingdom in October 1980, where it reached number 62 on the UK Singles Chart. It was remixed and re-released by the band's front man Billy Idol as a solo artist in the United States in 1981, where the song reached number 27 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Nouvelle Vague covered the number in 2006 and released it on their album, Bande à Part.

Both versions of "Dancing with Myself" have been described as new wave and dance-rock, but also as power pop, glam rock, disco-punk and post-punk. The inspiration for the song occurred while Generation X was touring Japan in mid-1979, when its singer Billy Idol and its bassist Tony James were struck by the sight of the young crowd in a Tokyo discotheque dancing with their own reflections in mirrored walls rather than with one another.

The song was written and first recorded by Generation X during demo sessions in mid-1979 at Olympic Studios in West London . This demo-recording was first officially released on the album K.M.D.-Sweet Revenge (1998). After that band had split later in that year, Idol and James re-branded the act as Gen X, and in production sessions with Keith Forsey for a new long-player at AIR Studios in London in mid-1980, the song was re-recorded for commercial release as a single. The guitar parts of the song were a mix of the playing of three guitarists with distinctively differing styles, viz. Steve New playing the lead, Steve Jones playing rhythm, with another layer being added by Danny Kustow.

First released in October 1980 as a preview of the new band's forthcoming long-player Kiss Me Deadly (1981), "Dancing with Myself" was a retail failure, reaching only number 62 in the UK Singles Chart in a 2-week chart run, then number 60 in its 4-week reappearance in early 1981.

The 1981 LP version runs 3:46 and is nearly the same as the 3:30 7" version, differing only in the last 30 seconds.

In 1981, Idol, now a solo artist after Gen X had broken up, had Forsey remix the song, reducing the prominence of the guitars & bass and removing the tambourine. This was released on the Gen X (a.k.a. 4) EP, with the 7" edition containing a 3:20 version and the 12" edition containing a 6:05 Extended Version.

Launching Idol's career in the U.S. market in 1981, the 3:20 version was released on 7" vinyl (credited to "Billy Idol and Gen X"), and the extended version was released on a promo-only 12". The extended version was also edited down to a 4:51 Long Version, which was commercially released on Idol's Don't Stop 12" EP, which was a dance club hit.

In 1983, the song was reissued commercially and bombed again, not charting at all in the UK, and only reaching #102 in the U.S. on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart. For this reissue, the U.S. got the 3:20 single version on 7" only, and the UK/EU market got a 7" containing the Long Version and a 12" containing the Extended Version.

The 3:20 version later appeared on Idol's 11 of the Best compilation, and the Extended Version appeared as the "Uptown Mix" on the Vital Idol compilation.

For the 1981 United States single release, a music video for use on the newly launched MTV was made, directed by Tobe Hooper, with Idol in a scenario drawn from the 1971 cinema film The Omega Man, playing a lone figure in a post-apocalyptic cityscape besieged upon a skyscraper rooftop by partying mutant street-waifs.

1. "Dancing with Myself" (3:30)
2. "Ugly Rash" (4:30)

1. "Dancing with Myself" (4:06)
2. "Loopy Dub" (5:08)
3. "Ugly Dub" (3:05)

1. "Dancing with Myself"
2. "Untouchables"
3. "Rock On"
4. "King Rocker" (produced by Ian Hunter)

1. "Dancing with Myself" (3:19) [Labelled as "Billy Idol featuring Generation X"]
2. "Happy People" (4:23)

1. "Dancing with Myself" (3:19) [Labelled as "Billy Idol featuring Generation X"]
2. "Love Calling (Dub)" (5:33)

1. "Dancing with Myself" (6:05) [Labelled as "Billy Idol featuring Generation X"]
2. "Love Calling (Dub)" (5:33)
3. "White Wedding" (8:20)
4. "Hot in the City" (5:20)

• "White Wedding" is the 12" Shotgun mix,^{[clarification needed]} but not labelled as such.

In 2024, the song was re-arranged and covered by American singer and songwriter Maren Morris. The cover was released as a single on February 15, 2024, under Columbia Records, in a partnership with the mobile app Visible for their "Singles Awareness Day" campaign. It marks Morris first release since her collaboration with DJ an electronic artist Diplo, "42" in 2023.

According to critics, Morris version features banjos, strummed acoustic guitars which are complemented by Morris' signature smoky vocals on the track produced by Gabe Simon. Morris said about the cover origin: "I partnered with Visible because I loved the theme of their messaging, which is independence and ownership," she added, "For me right now, I'm really leaning into my sort of singleness and it's daunting but exciting." She also explained further why she chose Idol's song to cover: "i decided to cover one of my longtime favorite songs by Billy Idol because it's always been a beautifully melancholic anthem for me, It also captures where I am at right now; a little blue but a lot relieved. Dancing through my feelings and shaking off the expired layers that no longer strengthen me."

Morris version received mostly positive reviews by music critics. Gil Kaufman for Billboard praised Morris' delivery, stating that the singer "sounds perfectly fine on her own". Scott Bernstein for JamBase dubbed the cover as a "fresh spin" of Idol's song. In a more mixed review Tom Breihan for Stereogum said that Morris cover doesn't "seem likely to incite much dancing" describing it as "significantly less rambunctious and more serene" in comparison to the original.

An official music video directed by Mehdi Zollo, sponsored by Visible was released alongside the single. The video was shot in East Nashville at Grimey's Records, and shows Morris dancing through the record store, sporting a leather trenchcoat, white tank top, jeans, and sunglasses. The music video pays homage to the 2000 film High Fidelity.

• Swedish rock-reggae band Dag Vag released a Swedish version of the song called "Dansar med mig själv" on their fourth LP 7 lyckliga elefanter in 1982.
• Belgian rock band De Kreuners released a Dutch version of the song called "Ik dans wel met mezelf" in 1982.
• Used in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987 film).
• A cover version by Blink-182 was featured on the compilation album Before You Were Punk and on Taylor Steele's Loose Change film soundtrack.
• A cover version by the Donnas was used in Mean Girls (2004) soundtrack, as well as the episode "God U." from the 2023 series Gen V.
• It was featured in the 2006 animated comedy Flushed Away.
• Australian rock band The Superjesus released a cover of the song in December 2023. The song later appeared on their self-titled 4th studio album released in March 2025.