Atlantic City

Atlantic City is an important song because it has close connections with some songs from earlier albums as well as other songs on Nebraska. It’s importance is further underlined by the fact that it was the only song (at the time) from the album that was made into a music video. Atlantic City begins with references to the Mafia; the “Chicken Man” was the nickname of a mafia boss named Philip Testa who was blown up along with his house in early 1981. The terms “boardwalk” (for instance, see the importance of the boardwalk in Elia Kazan’s film, On the Waterfront) and “racket boys” also conjure images of the Mafia. The “trouble” from “out of state” most likely refers to the encroachment of the Mob from Philadelphia into the territory of New Jersey. Atlantic City was known for its large amount of gambling and so it would prove profitable for the Mafia, especially for Testa who was known to avoid profiteering through drugs or alcohol. The first-person narrator of this song isn’t introduced until the third stanza (and after the first chorus). He says that he began by working and saving money but, like the desperate subject of Johnny 99, he needed to turn to crime because he “had debts that no honest man could pay”. This narrator is also like the central figure in Meeting Across the River from Born to Run. Both believe that they need to turn to crime to support themselves (and their women). Both have a certain illegal activity planned, but the specifics, whether they be dealing drugs or knocking somebody off, are not made clear in either song. There is also a connection with Prove It All Night from Darkness On the Edge of town. In the chorus of Atlantic City, the narrator tells the female figure, “put your makeup on and fix your hair up pretty” for their upcoming meeting. In Prove It All Night, the narrator tells her, “tie your hair back in a long, white bow” for their meeting “behind the dynamo”. Both narrators believe it is important for their respective women to look good and they want to be able to support this by acquiring money, whether it be through hard work or a quick score. In Atlantic City, he is unable to get any more money from the Central Trust and the irony of the word “trust” being the thing that is failing him probably doesn’t escape this narrator and certainly not Springsteen himself. All this guy can afford for his girl are “two tickets on that Coast City bus” to the beach where he sees the “sands turnin’ to gold”. The first two lines of the chorus, “Everything dies baby that’s a fact” and “But maybe everything that dies someday comes back” are deliberately ambiguous. Is he talking about a belief in literal reincarnation? Perhaps he is referring to his personal situation in the sense that he is going to be making some quick money soon if the plan is successful. One thing that has died, he says, is their “luck”. But he’s not giving up on her, “with you forever I’ll stay”. He shows his concern for her, “put on your stocking’s cause the nights getting cold”. In the final stanza, the unnamed narrator refers to “winners and losers”; his intention is to become a “winner” by earning money through some kind of illegal act. He sees “winners and losers” and nothing in between the two, only a “line”. He is crossing that "line" that separates straight from criminal activity in order to become a “winner” in his mind, and, he hopes, in the eyes of his girl.