Tag: Atlantic City

“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.
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 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” 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…