Atlantic City (song)
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| “Atlantic City” | |||||
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| Single by Bruce Springsteen from the album Nebraska |
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| Released | 1982 | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1982 | ||||
| Genre | Folk | ||||
| Length | 4:00 | ||||
| Label | Columbia Records CBS 2794 (UK, 7") |
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| Producer | Bruce Springsteen | ||||
| Bruce Springsteen singles chronology | |||||
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"Atlantic City" is a song written and recorded by rock musician Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska, considered to be one of Springsteen's darker albums in tone.
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[edit] History
Released as a single in most parts of the world except the United States (with "Mansion on the Hill" as the B-side), it reached # 15 in the United Kingdom.
The song depicts a young couple's romantic escape to the New Jersey city Atlantic City, but also wrestles with the inevitability of death as the man in the relationship intends to take a job in organized crime once arriving in the city. The opening lines of "Atlantic City" reference mafia violence in nearby Philadelphia, with Springsteen singing: "Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night, now they blew up his house too." (The "chicken man" was a mafia boss named Philip Testa, who was killed by a bomb planted at his house in Philadelphia in March 1981.) The song also references widespread uncertainty regarding gambling during its early years in Atlantic City and its promises to resurrect the city. This uncertainty and the man's uncertainty about taking the less-than-savory job are echoed in the lyrics "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies some day comes back."
The song version is included on his 1995 Greatest Hits album and on the 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
This was one of nine songs that was featured an episode of the television series Cold Case, and played during its climatic murder scene.[1]
[edit] Music video
A music video was produced for "Atlantic City", which received some play on MTV in the United States. This was a non-representational video, meaning Springsteen did not appear in it. The video featured stark, black and white images of the city, which had not yet undergone its later transformation, and was still rather bleak and depressing.
[edit] Live performances
From the Born in the U.S.A. Tour on, "Atlantic City" has made fairly regular appearances in Springsteen's band concerts, with a soft-hard-cycle arrangement very similar to that of "Darkness on the Edge of Town". Such live versions appear on Springsteen's In Concert/MTV Plugged (1993) and Live in New York City (2001) albums. For the 2006 Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, "Atlantic City" was drastically rearranged and featured multiple outros; as such it appears on the Live in Dublin (2007) album.
[edit] Covers
The song "Atlantic City" has been covered by other artists, here presented in chronological order:
- The Reivers (1986)
- The Band on Jericho (1993)
- Scooter & The Streethearts (1996)
- Kurt Neumann of the BoDeans (1997)
- Kim Fox (1997)
- Rollin' in the Hay (1998)
- The Badlees on "The Day's Parade" Rite-Off Records Catalog# 1135-2 (1998)
- Hank Williams III (2000)
- John Anderson (2001)
- Common Streets (Ron Junker, Mike Gatto) on Garden State of Mind, Vol. 1 (2002)
- Sticks and Stones on The Strife and The Times (2003)
- Pete Yorn on Live From New Jersey (2004)
- Ed Harcourt on Elephant's Graveyard (2005)
- Eddie Vedder (2005)
- Counting Crows (covered live in concert, date unknown)
- Chris Cornell live in concert at The Borgata, Atlantic City (July 27, 2007)
- Mat Kearney "Stripped" a Clear Channel Music Group acoustic concert series (2007)[2]
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (various shows -- 2007)
- Pat Green (live in various concerts)
- The Muckrakers (live in various concerts & single digital release)
