Atlantic City

"Atlantic City" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska. Springsteen has often played the song in a full band arrangement in concert. Recording background Springsteen wrote in his Greatest Hits sleeve notes that he recorded the track in his bedroom "for $1,050 (the cost of the four-track Tascam recorder), mixed through an old Gibson guitar unit to a beat box". He provides the vocals, guitar, harmonica, and mandolin for the song. Springsteen first recorded two demos of the song in April 1981 at his home in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Initially he titled the song "Fistful of Dollars" (from the Clint Eastwood movie A Fistful of Dollars). He recorded another demo in late 1981, this time changing the title to "Atlantic City". He recorded at least five takes on his Portastudio at Colts Neck during a two-week period, December 17 to January 3, 1982, with take three chosen for Nebraska. In a letter to Jon Landau, Springsteen noted that "this song should probably be done with the whole band really rockin' out". At The Power Station on April 26–28, 1982, with the E Street Band during the 'Electric Nebraska' sessions, Springsteen spent three days trying to make a rock record out of the demo. Landau insisted on releasing the solo version, "No way was it as good as what he had goin' on that demo tape". Historical context and lyrical significance The song depicts a young couple's escape to Atlantic City, New Jersey, but it also wrestles with rebirth and 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. 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.