Sometimes a song gets in my head, deep inside my head, and the only remedy is for me to work it out and play it. Then some songs demand that I keep playing them and the only remedy is for me to record them. I recorded "Atlantic City" in the early days of the new year - and the recording was videoed (albeit in an offhand, low-lit sort of way) - I sort of like it - so here it is: "Atlantic City" was wrtitten by Bruce Springsteen and featured on the "Nebraska" album. The song is about a young couple's romantic escape to Atlantic City in New Jersey, with a subplot concerning the inevitability of death, as the man in the relationship intends to take a job in organized crime upon arriving in the city. The opening lines of "Atlantic City" refer to mafia violence in Philadelphia, "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 bomb in March 1981). The song has roots in the widespread uncertainty regarding gambling during its early years in Atlantic City , as well as the young man's uncertainty about taking the job with the mob: "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back." ff January 2013