Sparks Fly On E Street: Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City" (1982)

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Like so many of Bruce’s songs, a relatively simple story ends up going a lot deeper. So what appears to be a gangland tale presented with cinematic detail, ends up reflecting shadows back onto the listener. I hear that in the lines “But I got debts that no honest man can pay,” and “And everything dies baby that’s a fact/But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” That first line is drenched with a kind of desperate honesty and the situation it infers is sadly all too common. The latter, haunting pair comes loaded with multiple meanings. Is it that a person can run away from his past? That redemption isn’t possible? Maybe so. A lot of people feel that way these days. Maybe they always have.

There have been a lot of great covers of “Atlantic City” (my favorite being the one on The Band’s Jericho album), and Bruce himself has for years played the song in a terrific full band arrangement, but for me its full power is on display in the acoustic form.

Next up: Mansion On The Hill

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Mark Saleski