I was a night shift taxi driver years ago, and what Bruce managed to distill in several verses is just incredible to me. The raw struggle and despair out there in the world. The things people will confess to a young taxi driver out of emotional desperation.
I do Uber on the side and it is absolutely true. The trauma dunking would shock me at first and I wouldn’t know how to respond at all. but I realize now they just need to talk.
@@ZackHamlin1 it feels like an important social obligation. I remember spending two hours trying to talk a woman out of ending her life. She'd just walked in on the man she'd intended to marry cheating in front of her. Stood there watching him in the doorway. You've never seen such despair.
@@lookupthereupinthetrees9860 I agree. I vividly remember a conversation with a man whose wife of 10+ years had just left him for a guy at her gym. He said he was an engineer and made great money so she didn’t have to work. She fell in love with some guy at the gym while he was working every day and I was taking him to the bar on a Saturday night because he said he had no idea how to talk to women in his 40s, so there he was. The worse part was he didn’t even want another woman, he wanted his wife but he accepted the fact that she didn’t love him anymore. He was just too lonely to sit in his new bachelor pad he’d just had to move in. I put myself in his shoes afterwards and it really shook me up.
@@lookupthereupinthetrees9860 just the fact that you talked to her, at such a*crucial " moment,I'm sure, made all the difference!!🙂👍🌠🌛 Hopefully she realized that character wasn't in her league,5 huh worthy of 2e😢w h feel b Call 1😢er v voice d btwho the hell wants someone like him 😏?!! You are surely One of The Good ones🙂👍🌜🌟🌠✨📻✨ Please don't ever change!🙂✌️📻🎵🌛
I heard this song for the first time today while I was feeling really sad, missing my parents. Today would've been their 61st and 59th birthdays. I just know it was sent from them for me. ❤️
Wow!!!!! My parents shared the same birthday 9/22. My father overdosed on my 45th (4/5) birthday in one of those hotels that line Rte.30 (which is the road with the billboards). Thanks for sharing your pain. I come here because this was also the last song I sent him before he died. Music was our language!!! Thanks for being vulnerable. ❤
I'm sorry that your folks are gone, it seems they were so young. I'm sure they would appreciate your memory of them. I have no advice but have been where you are; it'll be ok.
Debts no HONEST man can pay...that's the story of life with COVID..those out of work had 2 choices..# 1 Live off credit cards if ya have them or live off the Food banks .not prices are going up on one thing and Up on another..Where did our American Dream Die and go off too and is it ever comin Back
Me🖐️ This album is a very precious, old friend to me. And in my humble opinion one of the deepest poetry in music ever written about human condition, and our relation with life and death
Interestingly enough, the Born in the USA wlbum has the very same depressed and desperate tone. The songs were just mixed differently and provided with an up beat 80s synth sound.
Amazing that he wrote, sang (lead & backup), played every instrument, mixed and produced this track all by himself. Some prefer the live version, I will always love this version; so raw, soulful & personal.
+Sean Johnson Going through Bruce's stuff on youtube, and taking a preference to his more acoustic 'working man's struggles' albums, I kinda like Nebraska the most so far.
BRUCE YOU HAVE BEEN THE BOSS FOREVER NOW. SAW YOU IN 83. YOUR STILL JAMMING IN 2014. MISS CLARENCE. THE BEST SAX PLAYER I EVER HEARD. GOD BLESS HIM! ROCK ON BRUCE!!!
One of the few albums released in 1982 to be so simplistic! This is like Bruce Springsteen's take on Willie Nelson's 1975 breakthrough Red-Headed Stranger, which also had a stripped-down sound.
Much respect for you. I appreciate that you can appreciate other forms of music. In HS I was friends with a metalhead who said the origins of some rock came from the blues/Sinatra/big band. I was blown away...but looking at some Crue, Aerosmith , Zeppelin and other bands I can definitely agree. Jimmy King, hope you're doing well, wherever you are!👍
I’m clearly late to the party, but the Rodney Parker and 50 Peso Reward version is pretty awesome too. I’m glad I found a group of guys who can appreciate different versions
I'm new to this one. I heard it covered by the band a few years ago and was sold on the lyrics. When I found out it was springsteen it made so much sense.
@@davidcox5588 Mine was Columbia too, pennies on the dollar for the cassette. (You know why they went out of business? Because of the legal principle, a "lack of response" cannot be interpreted as a "yes.") I was maybe 14. This is his best-ever song. A close second is "The Line."
@@aronkaspar6369 But most of the country is boosted. And Bruce has helped in that cause. Wouldn't allow the non-boosted to attend his shows. Wanted them shunned from society. He is a true rebel. Speaks truth to power. He represents the best of humanity. What a guy.
This video beautifully captures the period in the early '80s before the economy turned around. Gambling came to AC in 1979, but large sections of the city were still crumbling and faded.. Prosperity left a lot of people behind, and that's what this song is about. Springsteen is at his best writing about people who dream of something better despite the tragic circumstances of their lives.
Yes, I think the issue of gambling on the Atlantic City boardwalk should be getting more discussed here in the _Comments_ section. Gambling did indeed bring prosperity to AC, before which the city looked like a hellhole... I know about these things because I lived in Detroit. Twice.
@@thepanel2935 guess u haven't been in the past 30yrs..A.C. is a complete drug infested, murder filled city..It is very bad n has only gotten worse.. Crap, they've cleaned up north Camden which is nice now compared n north Camden was the rawest ghetto ice ever been through and I've been through them all
"Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back." I cannot hear those lyrics without wanting to wail in a sweet despair as my heart is shattered by the longing in that voice.
Brings back a lot of memories. Growing up in Jersey, going down the shore in the summer. My parents & their friends taking the bus to AC for the weekend….good times, good people. My parents are long gone now 💔
I heard this song the first time on a random radio station while cruising at night on a highway. Damn this song hit me hard. Thank you Bruce for this song, got me through tough times
I heard the song first with The Band and got very impressed, now I listen to this original masterpice and I didn't expect to be so different, both are so great!
"Put on your stockings, baby, 'cause the night's gettin' cold...." Tenderness amid crisis. He is SO good at voicing the gracenotes the keep us human through & despite our pain. "But with you I'll forever stay...." Loyalty amid fear. The haunting echo on the almost-howling backup vocal--gorgeous. He gets too wall-of-sound operatic sometimes. But when he wants to, he can do so much with so little, musically--just as so many of his characters have to do.
"Well they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night" So begins Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City". In addition to thrusting the listener into the middle of a sad and powerful story, the verse lets us date the action of the song to one particular day in history: March 16, 1981, the day after mafia boss Philip "Chicken Man" Testa was killed by a bomb under his front porch in Philadelphia. Today is the 40th anniversary of that day. "Atlantic City" is a song about a man who, despite his desperation, clings for dear life to the crazy belief that there's a chance things will get better. In doing so, maybe he tells us something about America as the factories were closing down, about hope, and about ourselves. "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact. Maybe everything that dies someday comes back."
Ranks among the best songs on his best album, and ranks with anything Bob Dylan ever did. Moving and bleak, this captures perfectly the underbelly of the glittering lights. Amazing. Period.
He wrote it during the war between the New York and Philly mobs over control of the area after gambling went in. Sammy "the bull" Gravano was one of the lead hitmen for the NY mob during the war...
Bruce is a wonderful artist. His best work is among the finest pop music ever made, but he is in NO way close in artistic genius to bob Dylan. He is to Dylan as the kinks are to the Beatles. Or as Bob Seger is to Bruce Springsteen. Sorry Boss fans. That doesn’t mean he’s not great. Dylan is Picasso. Bruce is Leger. Nothing to be ashamed of. One invents out of his own head and the other is a refiner of other’s ideas.
His voice is so wistful for so many things. If the song is about a lost love, every listener remembers their lost love. If it's about a childhood place, we all remember our individual place. His lyrics completely transcend and should be the songs that go over movie montages about the open road, summer nights, young love, and growing up.
My favorite artist! Fellow Jersey boy!!I may be biased, but for all who appreciate songwriting and touching the human spirit, we are better for having Bruce Christen our lives for over 50 years!!!
The Boss at his best. This song is basically a country tune . It was more country than what was coming out of Nashville at the time. And still is. Great singer and album.
And to think, this album was recorded on a cassette four track in a bedroom with two Sm 57 microphones. Then mixed down on to an old crusty boombox that was pulled out of the mud after it fell out of a boat.
To me, Bruce Springsteen is the Johnny Cash of his own generation. Different artists, different legends, but both of them used their own simple, direct style to talk about, remember and honour those who are held back by society. They don't even fear to talk about criminals and prisoners, they've always looked for a hint of humanity in the loneliest person.
Lots of similarities between the two. However biggest difference between Cash and Springsteen is that Bruce wrote all his own content. Makes you look at it different that he could put pen to paper and perform it too.
@@bigtony2499 Why would you say Content there when what you mean is songs? A song is a beautiful piece of human expression. Content is something corporations sell to us.
Exactly! Bruce writes directly from his soul and his lyrics contain no gloss-he paints pictures that ALL of us can understand and relate to.The Boss is just an amazing observer of life and all that comes with it.Damn proud to share the planet with him!!!
The song depicts a young couple's escape to Atlantic City, New Jersey, 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, partially due to desperation caused by his “debts.” The opening lines of "Atlantic City" refer to the then-recent 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" refers to Philadelphia crime family boss Phil "the Chicken Man" Testa, who was killed by a rival gangster who planted a nail bomb in his Philadelphia rowhouse in March 1981.[4] While Atlantic City is considered the turf of the Philadelphia crime family, there was considerable in-fighting at the time among the Italian-American Mafia for dominance of the organized crime rackets in the city following the city's proposed legalization of gambling in 1976. By the 1970s and early 80s, Atlantic City had experienced a significant decline from its heyday as a prominent resort town in the early 20th century, and the introduction of legal gambling was proposed as a potential means of reviving the economically struggling city. The song evokes the widespread uncertainty regarding legalized 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."
Even though I was born in 1984, b-c my Mother (& Father) we’re HUGE FANS; I apparently could sing full Songs from BRUCE before I could actually formulate my OWN Sentences, LoL! Bruce Springsteen is the SHAKESPEARE of Rock & Roll. He’s an AMAZING STORY TELLER, making everyone FEEL (every Lyric in each of his Songs! (And you will FEEL the Music with All of Your Senses!). I’m a THROUGH & THROUGH ITALIAN- IRISH JERSEY GRIL. LMAO! I Truly Comprehend, UNDERSTAND, & FEEL HIS songs (Beautiful Lyrics) & ALL the History not JUST in Jersey, but the US & around the World. His songs are About growing up, Falling in Love, the Political Climate during that time, Wars, Friends, (of COURSE) Growing Up in a Middle Class Italian-Irish Family, the Struggles, Happiness, Getting Married, & Raising a Family back here in New Jersey! If Your a Person Who LOVES ROCK N’ ROLL, (EVEN IF YOU DONT KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM OR E-STREET Band You MUST put on your Bucket List to see him LIVE IN CONCERT!) It’s an UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE YOU’LL NOT ONLY LOVE, But will want ta go ta as MANY SHOWS AS POSSIBLE, LoL. Let’s say he was doing 10Concerts at MetLife Stadium (Home of NY GIANTS & JETS) 10 nights in a Row… Each of the Nights He would play a COMPLETELY Different Set, and has ALWAYS been one of the very FEW Musicians who would Changes the Melodies of His Songs too! His Concerts are LIFE CHANGING- Whether it be that your not his Biggest Fans, or simply don’t know much of His Material. Trust Me- You don’t want to Miss Out on that Experience (Show). He NEVER has a Headliner, an Intermission, & WILL PLAY NONSTOP for 3&1/2 ta 4 Hours! Name me ONE Rockstar that does ANY of those things. LoL- But you can’t….! Because there’s ONLY ONE ESTREET BAND, there’s ONLY 1 BOSS ( of Rock & Roll)! And that’s BRUCE!!!!
I saw this video for the first time on that old USA Network show Night Flight. I was 13 or 14 years old and hated it. Now I'm 56 and it's one of my favorite songs of all time.
Can't say there are many songs out there that give me the chill like this one (And the river of course). I once listened to it on repeat so many times that I kept hearing it while I was sleeping...
Actually thought of this song the last time I was in Atlantic City. Inside the hotels are lights and money and opulence, and all around the boardwalk and beach is bleakness and abject poverty that gets ignored while everyone gambles. You could see the framework of the old buildings from the 50's and 60's and the way things used to be and it was really sad.
Interesting comment. I've thought about this song and the way the city is now, especially after having Watched Boardwalk Empire. I've never been there but I bet its in a sad state.
Not like that anymore … but if u hide in the Fox News basement you have a weird phobia of cities now … boardwalk is great .. beaches are great. Food is the best around. Just the way it is bc. All new stuff being built … the whole island is a playground from end to end..
There was a docuseries about sports gambling on Showtime Network called Action. You see the tragic environment that Atlantic City has become. @@alexneville8168
@@johnmondry22 hah that’s exactly the kind of shitty attitude people don’t miss when they leave! A lot of the state has the feeling of a place whose best days are behind it. If you can’t see or admit that, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
One of the most beautiful songs I ever heard and didn't even realized it was Bruce. The version I am used to hearing is The Band's version which is just as amazing as this.
I love this song, probably one of my favourite songs by Bruce Springsteen. I remember seeing him play at Roundhay Park, Leeds, England,in I think 1985 on his Born in the USA tour , it was unforgettable, the band rocked the joint for four and a half hours. I still think of it now . Thanks Mr Springsteen, thanks for the great music .
Hi there Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years. It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕
"Put on ur stockings babe..the nights getting cold...Everything Dies Babee and that's a Fact.."..Pure Poetic Genius ..😆😆😆with a complaining voice..these 2 lines have haunted me me for the past 30 years..😏😏😏
Hi there🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years. It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕💕
This song means so much to me even though I live many miles from A.C. Bruce really nailed the emotion in this song and the whole Nebraska album. I wish he would do more songs like this, No offense to the E Street Band but I've always liked him when he's just got an acoustic and a harmonica. I guess that's why I perform that way, more intimate with the audience. This song will always be resonating in my mind, Thanks Boss! :)
Me toooooooooooo! I don't digg his E Street Band stuff at all. I know that's not popular to say but that's how I feel.All I want his Bruce and an acoustic with his voice and heartfelt lyrics.
Herd this song I was in bed late at night on my radio I think it was 1981 I never got over it next day went out and bought it sill love it Springsteens best work thanks Bruce
Hi there🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years. It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕💕
My grandparents lived in Toms River. They took the bus to A/C, with others in their senior community. They only bet the nickel machines. It was the thrill they wanted.. . . not the big money cuz the big bucks weren't there. This song brings back great memories. I miss my grandparents, because they were solid people. If people like my grandparents were still alive, we would still have a greater country. ww2 people. Solid folks. Great & strong people. They came to America shortly after the ship, Titanic.
Did they live in Holiday City? They took the bus on a Thursday probably. My grandparents lived there too, I lived by Kettle Creek Rd, or Silverbay Elementary kinda. This does bring back memories, and I miss those times, I wish I still lived in Jersey, to see the seasons change, to actually have a Mischief Night before Halloween, to have it cold out on Christmas Day, to have people, just people walking around, driving around doing shit, not here really. Not here in the hot and humid hell hole called Florida, where they come to and stop living. It sucks here. I miss it. I miss the people. I miss the smells, the boardwalk, I spent my teens hanging on the boardwalk, in Seaside, I had a blast. Good times. Maybe Atlantic City is a crap hole now, but I still love it, and Springsteen.
I don't really listen to springsteen too much anymore, but this song has to be one of my favorites. Just a great song wth good lyrics and a nice sound,"Well now everything dies, baby that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back."
..."Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold but With you forever I'll stay We're goin' out where the sand's turnin' to gold..." Such beautiful words of love, as today for few things, we broke with our partner....
This song resonates with me in two ways. I'm English and in 1978 I visited Atlantic City. On the same trip, I went to see Springsteen for the first time at the Spectrum, Philadelphia.
in 2008 i was a very desperate man in a very desperate situation of life....this tune was forever in my mind the entire time......still brings me too tears to think about life at that moment
I was a night shift taxi driver years ago, and what Bruce managed to distill in several verses is just incredible to me.
The raw struggle and despair out there in the world. The things people will confess to a young taxi driver out of emotional desperation.
Its true. I drove for a few yrs in a small mill town here in sw Washington. And it was horrifyingly beautiful if that makes sense.
I do Uber on the side and it is absolutely true. The trauma dunking would shock me at first and I wouldn’t know how to respond at all. but I realize now they just need to talk.
@@ZackHamlin1 it feels like an important social obligation. I remember spending two hours trying to talk a woman out of ending her life. She'd just walked in on the man she'd intended to marry cheating in front of her. Stood there watching him in the doorway. You've never seen such despair.
@@lookupthereupinthetrees9860 I agree. I vividly remember a conversation with a man whose wife of 10+ years had just left him for a guy at her gym. He said he was an engineer and made great money so she didn’t have to work. She fell in love with some guy at the gym while he was working every day and I was taking him to the bar on a Saturday night because he said he had no idea how to talk to women in his 40s, so there he was. The worse part was he didn’t even want another woman, he wanted his wife but he accepted the fact that she didn’t love him anymore. He was just too lonely to sit in his new bachelor pad he’d just had to move in. I put myself in his shoes afterwards and it really shook me up.
@@lookupthereupinthetrees9860 just the fact that you talked to her, at such a*crucial " moment,I'm sure, made all the difference!!🙂👍🌠🌛
Hopefully she realized that character wasn't in her league,5 huh worthy of 2e😢w h feel b Call 1😢er v voice d btwho the hell wants someone like him 😏?!!
You are surely One of The Good ones🙂👍🌜🌟🌠✨📻✨ Please don't ever change!🙂✌️📻🎵🌛
I heard this song for the first time today while I was feeling really sad, missing my parents. Today would've been their 61st and 59th birthdays. I just know it was sent from them for me. ❤️
Wow 🥺 young ...I miss my mother. Worst part of aging is experiencing the loss of our loved ones 😢
Wow!!!!! My parents shared the same birthday 9/22. My father overdosed on my 45th (4/5) birthday in one of those hotels that line Rte.30 (which is the road with the billboards). Thanks for sharing your pain. I come here because this was also the last song I sent him before he died. Music was our language!!! Thanks for being vulnerable. ❤
I'm sorry that your folks are gone, it seems they were so young. I'm sure they would appreciate your memory of them. I have no advice but have been where you are; it'll be ok.
What kind of narcissist are u? Lol
I’m can’t listen to my fathers house without crying. I just lost my dad and it’s hard I understand
The anguished howls in the background give this song a haunting quality that sticks with you long after the song is over.
howls of lost souls waiting to come back as the song says
Debts no HONEST man can pay...that's the story of life with COVID..those out of work had 2 choices..# 1 Live off credit cards if ya have them or live off the Food banks .not prices are going up on one thing and Up on another..Where did our American Dream Die and go off too and is it ever comin Back
Perfectly said❤
Like this better than Born in The USA.🤔🤔🤔🤔🤗🤗🤗
And the harmonica solos.
Is it just me, or does nobody feel that the Nebraska album is Bruce's rawest and finest work?
best record nebraska ...the only one i still listen to after 30 years.
Me🖐️
This album is a very precious, old friend to me.
And in my humble opinion one of the deepest poetry in music ever written about human condition, and our relation with life and death
My favorite of his.
It’s not just you!
Absolutely unbeatable!
The whole album is a perfection of not so quiet desperation.
Interestingly enough, the Born in the USA wlbum has the very same depressed and desperate tone. The songs were just mixed differently and provided with an up beat 80s synth sound.
@@christophzeit6282 and interesting as well is that Born was hugely successful and Nebraska is largely unknown among casual Boss fans.
What is more sad is Bruce has embraced the evil that has done this to us .
@@christophzeit6282im pretty sure bruce wanted a more raw sound but they wouldn’t allow it, listen to the acoustic version of the song born in the USA
Amazing that he wrote, sang (lead & backup), played every instrument, mixed and produced this track all by himself. Some prefer the live version, I will always love this version; so raw, soulful & personal.
The working man's Shakespeare !!
In his time shakespeare actually wrote his plays for the working class, so Bruce springsteen may very well be this generation's shakespeare
Rest In Peace Don Phil Testa. At least your son got vengeance. Unfortunately he was also murdered only few years later. Rip Capo Salvie
Nebraska is easily Springsteen's most under-appreciated album.
That's a fact.
+Sean Johnson Its his best work in my opinion.
+Sean Johnson Going through Bruce's stuff on youtube, and taking a preference to his more acoustic 'working man's struggles' albums, I kinda like Nebraska the most so far.
Under-appreciated by whom? Any Springsteen fans i know rate it as his best work.
It's the opposite...........one of his best albums
Life is beautiful, and worth living. But damn is it hard.
BRUCE YOU HAVE BEEN THE BOSS FOREVER NOW. SAW YOU IN 83. YOUR STILL JAMMING IN 2014. MISS CLARENCE. THE BEST SAX PLAYER I EVER HEARD. GOD BLESS HIM! ROCK ON BRUCE!!!
One of the few albums released in 1982 to be so simplistic! This is like Bruce Springsteen's take on Willie Nelson's 1975 breakthrough Red-Headed Stranger, which also had a stripped-down sound.
As a life long punk/thrashmetal banger.. This song gets to me every time. In my opinion its one of the most beautiful songs ever written
Have you heard the version done by "The Band?"
It is haunting.
Much respect for you. I appreciate that you can appreciate other forms of music. In HS I was friends with a metalhead who said the origins of some rock came from the blues/Sinatra/big band. I was blown away...but looking at some Crue, Aerosmith , Zeppelin and other bands I can definitely agree. Jimmy King, hope you're doing well, wherever you are!👍
Agreed
I’m clearly late to the party, but the Rodney Parker and 50 Peso Reward version is pretty awesome too. I’m glad I found a group of guys who can appreciate different versions
My favourite Bruce track, been playing this since I was 15 yrs old. 35 yrs later, still playing this.
I'm new to this one. I heard it covered by the band a few years ago and was sold on the lyrics. When I found out it was springsteen it made so much sense.
definitely relate. discovered this album by mistake, (Columbia House Record Club sent it to me if you remember that) and still love every song on it
@@davidcox5588 Mine was Columbia too, pennies on the dollar for the cassette. (You know why they went out of business? Because of the legal principle, a "lack of response" cannot be interpreted as a "yes.") I was maybe 14. This is his best-ever song. A close second is "The Line."
Mine also! I started at age 18 in 1982. This is the song for my life.
While I was a kid, I loved Born in the USA (Amusing by itself because I was born in the UK). I found this track later, and it's one of my favorites.
"Everything dies baby that's a fact, maybe everything that dies some day comes back." Long live Nebraska.
His best album!
I once had this LP and it may be in my parents garage out in Oklahoma.
No. Long live ATLANTIC CITY NJ
"I got debts no honest man can pay"
Rob Dermody Bill introduced me to this song years ago. Then I totally got why he loves Bruce’s music so much
Bruce is allowed to play on my funeral in 2079, when I'm 85 and he is 130 and still ROCKING!
Greeting friend. read your comment from 11 years ago. hopl all is well. God bless!
peace DatMag
Zeker vriend, zal ik ook doen
@@kaspervletter290 lol andere nederlander hier
Ill be 85 too in 2079
"Maybe everything that dies someday comes back"....... wow!!!! The simplest words but they have so many meanings. I love everything he sings!
In 2023 the entire country is dying
@@aronkaspar6369
But most of the country is boosted. And Bruce has helped in that cause. Wouldn't allow the non-boosted to attend his shows. Wanted them shunned from society.
He is a true rebel.
Speaks truth to power.
He represents the best of humanity.
What a guy.
@@davec484America has far bigger issues than that but go on
@@petewajda3083
It's hard to be a Saint in the city.
This video beautifully captures the period in the early '80s before the economy turned around. Gambling came to AC in 1979, but large sections of the city were still crumbling and faded.. Prosperity left a lot of people behind, and that's what this song is about. Springsteen is at his best writing about people who dream of something better despite the tragic circumstances of their lives.
Yes, I think the issue of gambling on the Atlantic City boardwalk should be getting more discussed here in the _Comments_ section. Gambling did indeed bring prosperity to AC, before which the city looked like a hellhole... I know about these things because I lived in Detroit. Twice.
same thing over here on the West coast..parts of Los Angeles..San Francisco and Portland and Seattle...things go in cycles
@@thepanel2935 guess u haven't been in the past 30yrs..A.C. is a complete drug infested, murder filled city..It is very bad n has only gotten worse.. Crap, they've cleaned up north Camden which is nice now compared n north Camden was the rawest ghetto ice ever been through and I've been through them all
Well said
Atlantic City never recovered after gambling took over. They should have capitalized on the fact that they had gambling and the beach. Never did.
“Put on your stockings babe cause the night’s getting cold” man that line gets me every time.....love your work Bruce
'well, i got a job - tried to put my money away, but i got debts that no honest man can pay' wow!
I think that this song is sooooo underrated and it is a fantastic song that I have connected with in my life 😎🎙🎸🎸🎷🎹🥁🤘🤘🏴⚘🇺🇸🍺
What are those debts?
This is Springsteens best work, such a raw insight into American life, I can't stop listening
he recorded this track in his bedroom with a 4 track cassette
hands down
he is a pure genius
Wow, no shit! Cool
Wow Impressive
It's true...!!! A Genius
Not only this track, he recorded entire Nebraska album
R u sure?
"Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back." I cannot hear those lyrics without wanting to wail in a sweet despair as my heart is shattered by the longing in that voice.
Brings back a lot of memories. Growing up in Jersey, going down the shore in the summer. My parents & their friends taking the bus to AC for the weekend….good times, good people. My parents are long gone now 💔
But, they are still with you, and perhaps this song reminds you,and helps to keep them by your side.
Sorry for your loss,but to quote to quote a line from said song: "everything that dies,someday comes back..."
I heard this song the first time on a random radio station while cruising at night on a highway. Damn this song hit me hard. Thank you Bruce for this song, got me through tough times
I heard the song first with The Band and got very impressed, now I listen to this original masterpice and I didn't expect to be so different, both are so great!
"Put on your stockings, baby, 'cause the night's gettin' cold...." Tenderness amid crisis. He is SO good at voicing the gracenotes the keep us human through & despite our pain. "But with you I'll forever stay...." Loyalty amid fear. The haunting echo on the almost-howling backup vocal--gorgeous. He gets too wall-of-sound operatic sometimes. But when he wants to, he can do so much with so little, musically--just as so many of his characters have to do.
"Well they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night"
So begins Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City".
In addition to thrusting the listener into the middle of a sad and powerful story, the verse lets us date the action of the song to one particular day in history: March 16, 1981, the day after mafia boss Philip "Chicken Man" Testa was killed by a bomb under his front porch in Philadelphia.
Today is the 40th anniversary of that day.
"Atlantic City" is a song about a man who, despite his desperation, clings for dear life to the crazy belief that there's a chance things will get better. In doing so, maybe he tells us something about America as the factories were closing down, about hope, and about ourselves.
"Everything dies, baby, that's a fact. Maybe everything that dies someday comes back."
I lived in Detroit. Twice. I can relate to what you're saying, because it certainly applies to the Rust Belt, too.
A short time later they blew up my uncle's house also, after he sold it for cash to an unnamed buyer, just north of Philly
And then, became the rise of little and little Phil !
@@jgw3000 whoa whoa your gonna need to explain here. I’ve followed mafia history heavily…..what are you speaking of???
@@jgw3000 who was youre uncle
Ranks among the best songs on his best album, and ranks with anything Bob Dylan ever did. Moving and bleak, this captures perfectly the underbelly of the glittering lights. Amazing. Period.
"...underbelly of the glittering lights." That's beautiful. Are you a writer?
No, but thanks for the compliment. Was an English major and teacher. Wish the best to you!
He wrote it during the war between the New York and Philly mobs over control of the area after gambling went in. Sammy "the bull" Gravano was one of the lead hitmen for the NY mob during the war...
not quite anything mr. dylan did young lady but dam close-and close only as bruce learned from him-just sayin!
Bruce is a wonderful artist. His best work is among the finest pop music ever made, but he is in NO way close in artistic genius to bob Dylan. He is to Dylan as the kinks are to the Beatles. Or as Bob Seger is to Bruce Springsteen. Sorry Boss fans. That doesn’t mean he’s not great. Dylan is Picasso. Bruce is Leger. Nothing to be ashamed of. One invents out of his own head and the other is a refiner of other’s ideas.
There's something so touching about black and white footage of things passing by as you drive, no matter what it's of lol.
yes, true. cleaner lines.
Indeed, that gives things a Classic touch
Love the black and white! John Waite's Restless Heart is another one that I love!
RJ Foster makes it vintage
They sure as hell don't
My mom worked at the Taffy shop that they show in this video. Love you Mommy.
I have an absurd amount of love for this song. So beautiful.
Bruce's sad songs
Always cut the deepest
For me
Thank god for him
His voice is so wistful for so many things. If the song is about a lost love, every listener remembers their lost love. If it's about a childhood place, we all remember our individual place. His lyrics completely transcend and should be the songs that go over movie montages about the open road, summer nights, young love, and growing up.
This song is about (fictional) hired muscle involved in a mob conflict, back in '81.
Bravo ! Your last sentence is epic. A+++
My favorite artist! Fellow Jersey boy!!I may be biased, but for all who appreciate songwriting and touching the human spirit, we are better for having Bruce Christen our lives for over 50 years!!!
Quite possibly the best song ever written...a masterpiece
Somehow he gets to the heart of America, like Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Mark Twain. America is not always beautiful, but God bless her.
👆
agree. Bruce sings it like it is and it ain't always pretty. but then life seldom is
America isn't just of and for white men, brother. Look around - America will surprise the fuck out of you.
kittyand fox you dum as fuck
America is most than USA.
I am not American but when I hear this it touches my heart and the words go so deep. So deep, I cry.
The Boss at his best. This song is basically a country tune . It was more country than what was coming out of Nashville at the time. And still is. Great singer and album.
I love you
Folk tune.
_Nebraska_ was entirely demos, never to be performed in a studio. The album is raw perfection.
And to think, this album was recorded on a cassette four track in a bedroom with two Sm 57 microphones. Then mixed down on to an old crusty boombox that was pulled out of the mud after it fell out of a boat.
To me, Bruce Springsteen is the Johnny Cash of his own generation. Different artists, different legends, but both of them used their own simple, direct style to talk about, remember and honour those who are held back by society. They don't even fear to talk about criminals and prisoners, they've always looked for a hint of humanity in the loneliest person.
Lots of similarities between the two. However biggest difference between Cash and Springsteen is that Bruce wrote all his own content. Makes you look at it different that he could put pen to paper and perform it too.
@@bigtony2499 Huge difference. And I have all the respect in the world for Johnny Cash's immense talent.
@@katc5051 no knock to Cash, the man is a legend in his own right. Bruce just has different talent but also the same talent at the same time.
@@bigtony2499 Why would you say Content there when what you mean is songs? A song is a beautiful piece of human expression. Content is something corporations sell to us.
Bruce and John bon Jovi
This is the song that got me hooked on Springsteen. He never made a better album than this one.
Exactly! Bruce writes directly from his soul and his lyrics contain no gloss-he paints pictures that ALL of us can understand and relate to.The Boss is just an amazing observer of life and all that comes with it.Damn proud to share the planet with him!!!
The song depicts a young couple's escape to Atlantic City, New Jersey, 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, partially due to desperation caused by his “debts.” The opening lines of "Atlantic City" refer to the then-recent 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" refers to Philadelphia crime family boss Phil "the Chicken Man" Testa, who was killed by a rival gangster who planted a nail bomb in his Philadelphia rowhouse in March 1981.[4] While Atlantic City is considered the turf of the Philadelphia crime family, there was considerable in-fighting at the time among the Italian-American Mafia for dominance of the organized crime rackets in the city following the city's proposed legalization of gambling in 1976. By the 1970s and early 80s, Atlantic City had experienced a significant decline from its heyday as a prominent resort town in the early 20th century, and the introduction of legal gambling was proposed as a potential means of reviving the economically struggling city. The song evokes the widespread uncertainty regarding legalized 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."
One of the best comments I ever read
@@johnobrien3179 Thanks John
For me your comments bring this beautiful song to life. Many thanks
The death of the chicken man led to three mob war in philly
This is absolutely the best comment.
The best album by Springsteen ever and this is one of the best songs on it. Period
Haunting piece of artwork, the mandolin and harmonica are fantastic
Even though I was born in 1984, b-c my Mother (& Father) we’re HUGE FANS; I apparently could sing full Songs from BRUCE before I could actually formulate my OWN Sentences, LoL! Bruce Springsteen is the SHAKESPEARE of Rock & Roll. He’s an AMAZING STORY TELLER, making everyone FEEL (every Lyric in each of his Songs! (And you will FEEL the Music with All of Your Senses!). I’m a THROUGH & THROUGH ITALIAN- IRISH JERSEY GRIL. LMAO! I Truly Comprehend, UNDERSTAND, & FEEL HIS songs (Beautiful Lyrics) & ALL the History not JUST in Jersey, but the US & around the World. His songs are About growing up, Falling in Love, the Political Climate during that time, Wars, Friends, (of COURSE) Growing Up in a Middle Class Italian-Irish Family, the Struggles, Happiness, Getting Married, & Raising a Family back here in New Jersey!
If Your a Person Who LOVES ROCK N’ ROLL, (EVEN IF YOU DONT KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM OR E-STREET Band You MUST put on your Bucket List to see him LIVE IN CONCERT!) It’s an UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE YOU’LL NOT ONLY LOVE, But will want ta go ta as MANY SHOWS AS POSSIBLE, LoL. Let’s say he was doing 10Concerts at MetLife Stadium (Home of NY GIANTS & JETS)
10 nights in a Row… Each of the Nights He would play a COMPLETELY Different Set, and has ALWAYS been one of the very FEW Musicians who would Changes the Melodies of His Songs too! His Concerts are LIFE CHANGING- Whether it be that your not his Biggest Fans, or simply don’t know much of His Material.
Trust Me- You don’t want to Miss Out on that Experience (Show). He NEVER has a Headliner, an Intermission, & WILL PLAY NONSTOP for 3&1/2 ta 4 Hours! Name me ONE Rockstar that does ANY of those things. LoL- But you can’t….! Because there’s ONLY ONE ESTREET BAND, there’s ONLY 1 BOSS ( of Rock & Roll)!
And that’s BRUCE!!!!
I could listen to this song on repeat and never get tired of it. I love it.
Ditto!
I saw this video for the first time on that old USA Network show Night Flight. I was 13 or 14 years old and hated it. Now I'm 56 and it's one of my favorite songs of all time.
My favourite Bruce Springsteen song. In my top 3 songs of all time.
He's captured a lifetime's worth of despair and hope, sadness and love, agitation and determination, all in three and a half minutes.
Song gives me the chills....and add that Bruce echo in the background doing harmony in the choruses and................I'm shakin' from chills!
Can't say there are many songs out there that give me the chill like this one (And the river of course). I once listened to it on repeat so many times that I kept hearing it while I was sleeping...
Haunting melody
it sure is
This man is immortal.
all of bruce's songs are universal and timeless
Actually thought of this song the last time I was in Atlantic City. Inside the hotels are lights and money and opulence, and all around the boardwalk and beach is bleakness and abject poverty that gets ignored while everyone gambles. You could see the framework of the old buildings from the 50's and 60's and the way things used to be and it was really sad.
Interesting comment. I've thought about this song and the way the city is now, especially after having Watched Boardwalk Empire. I've never been there but I bet its in a sad state.
Picture beachfront north Philadelphia with a boardwalk
Not like that anymore … but if u hide in the Fox News basement you have a weird phobia of cities now … boardwalk is great .. beaches are great. Food is the best around. Just the way it is bc. All new stuff being built … the whole island is a playground from end to end..
There was a docuseries about sports gambling on Showtime Network called Action. You see the tragic environment that Atlantic City has become. @@alexneville8168
There's a sadness in being from New Jersey that I'll never ever shake, and which this song nails perfectly. Truly great.
If you're sad about being from Jersey
I really hope you moved away and don't ever come back again
@@johnmondry22 hah that’s exactly the kind of shitty attitude people don’t miss when they leave!
A lot of the state has the feeling of a place whose best days are behind it. If you can’t see or admit that, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
I hear you ❤️
I’m from New Jersey and I don’t feel that at all
@@neelabhchoudhary2063 That’s cool, you’re allowed to have your own opinion
One of the most beautiful songs I ever heard and didn't even realized it was Bruce. The version I am used to hearing is The Band's version which is just as amazing as this.
The Band version is just that...The Band, it's cool, it's their style but nothing will ever top this version
Cold Case brought me here, thank you!
When the mandolin comes in on the bridge. Hits so hard
This is one of those songs that can always get me all goosey bumpy
Bruce is and will always be the Boss :)
go tell trump
I cannot imagine a happier, more cheerful tune than this one.
Well our ...luck may have died and our love may be cold but...with you forever I'll stay. Born and raised in NJ in this era. God bless NJ and the boss
I love this song, probably one of my favourite songs by Bruce Springsteen. I remember seeing him play at Roundhay Park, Leeds, England,in I think 1985 on his Born in the USA tour , it was unforgettable, the band rocked the joint for four and a half hours. I still think of it now . Thanks Mr Springsteen, thanks for the great music .
All these years on, this song still haunts, better than ever. Masterpiece.
Hi there
Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years.
It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕
Bruce out here giving a whole A&E documentary on the 70s Philly mob.
Thank God for giving us The Boss !!!!!
2008 i was in Atlantic city.......Thks Bruce for the song,,,
Another example of the brilliance of Bruce Springsteen.
"Put on ur stockings babe..the nights getting cold...Everything Dies Babee and that's a Fact.."..Pure Poetic Genius ..😆😆😆with a complaining voice..these 2 lines have haunted me me for the past 30 years..😏😏😏
Hi there🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years.
It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕💕
This song means so much to me even though I live many miles from A.C. Bruce really nailed the emotion in this song and the whole Nebraska album. I wish he would do more songs like this, No offense to the E Street Band but I've always liked him when he's just got an acoustic and a harmonica. I guess that's why I perform that way, more intimate with the audience. This song will always be resonating in my mind, Thanks Boss! :)
Me toooooooooooo! I don't digg his E Street Band stuff at all. I know that's not popular to say but that's how I feel.All I want his Bruce and an acoustic with his voice and heartfelt lyrics.
I always get back to this song. The essence of Bruce. What a masterpiece...
My cousins from Ireland played this all the time when I was there last summer, those memories will alway flash back with this song
☘
I remember how blown away at Nebraska when it first came out. I still love it, it's one of my favorite all-time albums. He's great!!!
This song is one of my all time favourites, something so pure and hard hitting about it.
Herd this song I was in bed late at night on my radio I think it was 1981 I never got over it next day went out and bought it sill love it Springsteens best work thanks Bruce
Hi there🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Thanks for your love and support that has brought me this far, it has been a hard time for me going through this but your love and support keeps me going and standing strong in this difficult times. I do read your heartwarming comments and I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout the years.
It’s a season of love😍❤️❤️ for me and so I decided to put a smile on the faces of my fans by going through my RUclips channel and checking out on my fans, so I can get to communicate with my fans better through discussion of depth and humor listening to o and criticism of my career.💞💞🙏💖💕💕
His concerts are the best. I paid a week's wages to see him in 2012. It was worth every penny!
Beautiful song backing vocals are haunting
Probably one of the best folk songs ever written
Don't you ever die Boss
we all got it coming
do good and you'll live on in the memories of the living
+PoshLifeforME
he won't don't worry!!!! he'll live on and on and on...
not in 2016, please...
and if He ever has to go in our hearts He'll grow
One if not THE greatest tracks a goose pimple one take a bow Bruce
Bruce came to Austin TEXAS back in ‘81 ,…He & his band put a Damn GoooD Concert !!
ᕕ(⌐□ل͜□)ᕗ❣️💜💖
In my opinion his best song... Also the most poetic
I love Atlantic City a lot! Just came back and already planning go back.
I get the feeling that the narrator wasn't as thrilled with what was happening in Atlantic City as you are.
Nice to see classic Rt. 30. It really hasn't changed much.
The BOSS always, Nuff Said ! !! 👍😇❣️🎸🤩💯
This is an absolutely timeless song. Springsteen is a master of atmosphere.
My grandparents lived in Toms River. They took the bus to A/C, with others in their senior community. They only bet the nickel machines. It was the thrill they wanted.. . . not the big money cuz the big bucks weren't there. This song brings back great memories. I miss my grandparents, because they were solid people. If people like my grandparents were still alive, we would still have a greater country. ww2 people. Solid folks. Great & strong people. They came to America shortly after the ship, Titanic.
Amen to that
Did they live in Holiday City? They took the bus on a Thursday probably. My grandparents lived there too, I lived by Kettle Creek Rd, or Silverbay Elementary kinda. This does bring back memories, and I miss those times, I wish I still lived in Jersey, to see the seasons change, to actually have a Mischief Night before Halloween, to have it cold out on Christmas Day, to have people, just people walking around, driving around doing shit, not here really. Not here in the hot and humid hell hole called Florida, where they come to and stop living. It sucks here. I miss it. I miss the people. I miss the smells, the boardwalk, I spent my teens hanging on the boardwalk, in Seaside, I had a blast. Good times. Maybe Atlantic City is a crap hole now, but I still love it, and Springsteen.
One of the finest songs of the early 1980s. Phenomenal.
One of my new favorite songs.
A lot of rich history in this video that would otherwise be lost forever. 🤘❤
I don't really listen to springsteen too much anymore, but this song has to be one of my favorites. Just a great song wth good lyrics and a nice sound,"Well now everything dies, baby that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back."
..."Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold but
With you forever I'll stay
We're goin' out where the sand's turnin' to gold..."
Such beautiful words of love, as today for few things, we broke with our partner....
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Mike Ness, and the band called GASLIGHT ANTHEM.
One of my favorite songs of Bruce, probably the most underrated. I discovered his music thanks to this video, on the italian TV in 1983.
This song resonates with me in two ways. I'm English and in 1978 I visited Atlantic City. On the same trip, I went to see Springsteen for the first time at the Spectrum, Philadelphia.
in 2008 i was a very desperate man in a very desperate situation of life....this tune was forever in my mind the entire time......still brings me too tears to think about life at that moment
So I'm listening to this song and I'm thinking ... Now I see why Springsteen is called "The Boss"