Atlantic City

"Atlantic City"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Nebraska
Released	1982
Format	7"
Recorded	1982
Genre	Folk rock
Length	4:00
Label	Columbia CBS 2794 (UK, 7")
Producer	Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Cadillac Ranch" (UK) (1981) "Atlantic City" (UK) (1982) "Open All Night" (UK) (1982)

"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 most dour albums in tone. It has since often been heard in a full band arrangement in concert.

History

Springsteen writes in his Greatest Hits sleeve notes, he recorded the track in his bedroom, ".....for $1050 ( the cost of the 4 track Tascam recorder), mixed through an old Gibson guitar unit to a beat box...."

The song depicts a young couple's romantic escape to the New Jersey city Atlantic City, but it also wrestles with the inevitability of death, as the man in the relationship intends to take a job in organized crime upon arriving in the city. The opening lines of "Atlantic City" refer to 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 mafia boss Philip Testa, who was killed by a bomb planted at his Philadelphia house in March 1981). The song evokes the widespread uncertainty regarding gambling during its early years in Atlantic City and its promises to resurrect the city, as well as the young man's uncertainty about taking the less-than-savory job: "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back."

The song 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 in an episode of the television series Cold Case and played during its climactic murder scene.^[1]

Although the song came out around the same time as the film of the same name, the two works are unrelated.

Music video

A music video was produced for "Atlantic City", which received moderate play on MTV in the United States. Springsteen does not appear in the video, which features stark, black and white images of Atlantic City.

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.

Covers

The song "Atlantic City" has been covered by other artists, here presented in chronological order:

• The Reivers (1986)
• BoDeans (1987)
• The Band on Jericho (1993)
• Scooter & The Streethearts (1996)
• Counting Crows (1997)
• 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)
• John Anderson (2001)
• Hank Williams III on Lovesick, Broke and Driftin' (2002)
• 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)
• The Muckrakers (single digital release)
• Atticus Finch
• Automatic 7 on At Funeral Speed (2007)
• Paul Baribeau and Ginger Alford for their "Darkness on the Edge of Your Town Tour" CD and Tour (2006, re-released 2009)
• Rodney Parker and Fifty Peso Reward on The Lonesome Dirge (2008)
• Levon Helm From the Album FestivaLink presents Levon Helm Band MerleFest Ramble at MerleFest (4/26/2008)
• Mat Kearney (2009)
• The Hold Steady on War Child's Heroes compilation (2009)
• Jamie T Emilys Heart Single (2010) ^[2]
• Justin Townes Earle on the Onion's AV Club ^[3]
• Gerhard Gundermann made a German version of the song
• Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem 97x Green Room October 21, 2008

Sources

• The Bruce Springsteen Discography by Matt and Lori Orel
• AMG review^{[dead link]}

References

External links

• "Atlantic City" lyrics
• Single covers from Holland, Italy, Spain, UK and Japan