Written by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 Tunnel Of Love album, “One Step Up” was released as the third single from the album, following “Brilliant Disguise” and the title track.
It reached position #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the United States. It also reached #2 on the U.S. Album Rock Tracks chart, giving Springsteen three straight Top 2 tracks from the album. The song was only released as a single in North America.

Like several other songs on the album, the song reflects the impending breakup of the marriage between Springsteen and then-wife Julianne Phillips. The song’s lyrics are poetic, understated, emotional and eloquent.
The song begins by describing a house with a broken furnace and a car that doesn’t start, which serve as metaphors for the couple’s relationship. Similar metaphors in the song are a bird that won’t sing and church bells that won’t ring for a new bride-to-be.
Although the couple has been together for some time, they haven’t learned from their experiences and continue to fight and slam doors. The lyrics refer to the couple’s relationship as their “dirty little war.

Finally, the singer finds himself at a bar wondering whether to hook up with another woman there, while remembering a dream he had the night before about dancing with his wife, with the dance poignantly echoing the song’s title (one step up and two steps back).
The singer is self-aware enough to recognize his share of responsibility for the couple’s difficulties, as demonstrated in particular by the line: “When I look at myself I don’t see/The man I wanted to be”.

Dave Marsh describes the song as being “as miserable a cheating song as even Nashville ever knew”.