Jersey Girl (song)
Encyclopedia
"Jersey Girl" is a song composed and originally sung by American
singer-songwriter
Tom Waits
from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine
.
, who had been living in New Jersey
. It is one of Waits' most tender songs, and captures a feeling of romantic longing despite its somewhat gritty details.
Waits said in a 1980 interview that, "I never thought I would catch myself saying 'sha la la' in a song ... This is my first experiment with 'sha la la.'" Waits' recording includes drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and glockenspiel
, in an arrangement that captures the feeling of the seashore by way of "Under the Boardwalk
" or "Spanish Harlem
".
Rock writer Stephen Holden
saw echoes of Springsteen in "Jersey Girl" even before Springsteen performed it, and, writing for Rolling Stone
, said that the song's "eager romanticism becomes warped in the caldron of what's left of Waits' voice", en route to "morbid pathos".
The song is also included on Waits' compilation albums Bounced Checks
(1981), Anthology of Tom Waits
(1985), and Used Songs, 1973-1980
(2001). Waits also included a quiet performance of it during his 1999 appearance on VH1 Storytellers
.
and the E Street Band
and released as the B-side of his 1984 hit single "Cover Me". Springsteen introduced the song in July 1981 during the encores of a special River Tour
homecoming stand that opened Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey
, saying "I just want to say that you guys made tonight for us ... this is something special that we learned for ya." He slightly rewrote it to replace a Waits line about "whores on Eighth Avenue" with "the girls out on the avenue", and added a verse about taking "that little brat of yours and drop[ping] her off at your mom's." The July 9 performance from this stand was used on the "Cover Me" release. A few weeks later on August 24, Waits joined Springsteen onstage at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to perform the song together. "Jersey Girl" then became the closing track of Springsteen's 1986 box set Live/1975-85
, as Springsteen and producer Jon Landau
felt it accurately represented the final phase of the loose story arc that connected the songs on the album together.
"Jersey Girl" would become a Springsteen fan favorite, played often in New Jersey and sometimes Philadelphia shows during the 1980s and early 1990s. Its appearances then became even rarer, being picked to open the last of 15 Meadowlands shows in 1999 on the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
– as what The New York Times
termed "a reward for [the fans'] faith and perseverance," close the last of 10 shows at New Jersey's Giants Stadium
in 2003 on The Rising Tour
, and be the next-to-last song in the three-show run at Giants Stadium in 2008 on the Magic Tour
. The song was played as the first fan requested song at his October 3, 2009 show and was the final song performed during the last October 9, 2009 show before the demolition of Giants Stadium.
Because the Springsteen version of the song was more played on radio and because Springsteen was often associated with New Jersey, it was not unusual for people to mistakenly think Springsteen had written it.
The song is sometimes erroneously associated with the "Jersey Girl" cultural stereotype, but in fact it makes no mention of most of the traits — such as big hair — usually associated with that stereotype. One writer for The New York Times
stated that "the Jersey girl, the one Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen sing about, knows she'll get what she wants," and listed Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa
and Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman
as examples that befit the song.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine
Heartattack and Vine
Heartattack and Vine was Tom Waits' last album on the Asylum label, released in September 1980.Bruce Springsteen covered "Jersey Girl" as part of his live shows throughout the 1980s."On the Nickel" was recorded for the Ralph Waite film of the same name....
.
Waits original
Waits wrote the song with his future wife Kathleen BrennanKathleen Brennan
Kathleen Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and artist. She was born in Johnsburg, Illinois, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola film One from...
, who had been living in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. It is one of Waits' most tender songs, and captures a feeling of romantic longing despite its somewhat gritty details.
Waits said in a 1980 interview that, "I never thought I would catch myself saying 'sha la la' in a song ... This is my first experiment with 'sha la la.'" Waits' recording includes drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, in an arrangement that captures the feeling of the seashore by way of "Under the Boardwalk
Under the Boardwalk
"Under the Boardwalk" is a hit pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by The Drifters in 1964.-Premise:The lyric describes a tryst between a man and his beloved in a seaside town, who plan to privately meet "out of the sun" and out of sight from everyone else under a...
" or "Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem (song)
"Spanish Harlem" is a song released by Ben E. King in 1960 on Atco Records, written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...
".
Rock writer Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
saw echoes of Springsteen in "Jersey Girl" even before Springsteen performed it, and, writing for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, said that the song's "eager romanticism becomes warped in the caldron of what's left of Waits' voice", en route to "morbid pathos".
The song is also included on Waits' compilation albums Bounced Checks
Bounced Checks
Bounced Checks is the first compilation of Tom Waits recordings, including album, live and alternate versions of songs from six of his seven albums for Asylum Records, excepting his debut, Closing Time....
(1981), Anthology of Tom Waits
Anthology of Tom Waits
Anthology of Tom Waits is the first "best of" compilation of Tom Waits recordings, with tracks taken from his albums for Asylum Records.-Track listing:Songs written by Tom Waits, except where noted.#"Ol' '55" - 3:55...
(1985), and Used Songs, 1973-1980
Used Songs, 1973-1980
Used Songs 1973–1980 is a compilation of songs from Tom Waits's Asylum Records years.-Track listing:Songs written by Tom Waits# "Heartattack and Vine" - 4:44#*from Heartattack and Vine #*Tom Waits - vocals, electric guitar...
(2001). Waits also included a quiet performance of it during his 1999 appearance on VH1 Storytellers
VH1 Storytellers
Storytellers is a television music series produced by the VH1 network.In each episode artists perform in front of a live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat similar to MTV Unplugged...
.
Springsteen version
The song is also known as performed by Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
and released as the B-side of his 1984 hit single "Cover Me". Springsteen introduced the song in July 1981 during the encores of a special River Tour
The River Tour
The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River.-Itinerary:...
homecoming stand that opened Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, saying "I just want to say that you guys made tonight for us ... this is something special that we learned for ya." He slightly rewrote it to replace a Waits line about "whores on Eighth Avenue" with "the girls out on the avenue", and added a verse about taking "that little brat of yours and drop[ping] her off at your mom's." The July 9 performance from this stand was used on the "Cover Me" release. A few weeks later on August 24, Waits joined Springsteen onstage at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to perform the song together. "Jersey Girl" then became the closing track of Springsteen's 1986 box set Live/1975-85
Live/1975-85
Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs...
, as Springsteen and producer Jon Landau
Jon Landau
Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen.He is currently the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
felt it accurately represented the final phase of the loose story arc that connected the songs on the album together.
"Jersey Girl" would become a Springsteen fan favorite, played often in New Jersey and sometimes Philadelphia shows during the 1980s and early 1990s. Its appearances then became even rarer, being picked to open the last of 15 Meadowlands shows in 1999 on the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
– as what The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
termed "a reward for [the fans'] faith and perseverance," close the last of 10 shows at New Jersey's Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
in 2003 on The Rising Tour
The Rising Tour
The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003...
, and be the next-to-last song in the three-show run at Giants Stadium in 2008 on the Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
. The song was played as the first fan requested song at his October 3, 2009 show and was the final song performed during the last October 9, 2009 show before the demolition of Giants Stadium.
Because the Springsteen version of the song was more played on radio and because Springsteen was often associated with New Jersey, it was not unusual for people to mistakenly think Springsteen had written it.
The song is sometimes erroneously associated with the "Jersey Girl" cultural stereotype, but in fact it makes no mention of most of the traits — such as big hair — usually associated with that stereotype. One writer for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated that "the Jersey girl, the one Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen sing about, knows she'll get what she wants," and listed Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa
Patti Scialfa
Vivienne Patricia "Patti" Scialfa is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is married to Bruce Springsteen and they have three children.- Early life :...
and Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She was New...
as examples that befit the song.