New Jersey songs?

[Matt DeBlass]

For my next music project, I'm trying to put together a collection of songs from and about my home state. I figure between Jersey's role in the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and all the canals, railroads, fishermen and all that, there's got to be something.
Anyway, I'm turning to every source I can think of looking for leads. I'm primarily looking for traditional public-domain stuff (ie, before Bruce Springsteen) and have turned up some info in Classical music (America's first credited composer signed the Declaration of Independence for NJ) and possibly some fishermen's songs, but I'm just getting started.
If anybody knows of any songs or tunes that might fit the bill, I'd appreciate it.

[AlanN]

I Like Jersey Best, sung by John Pizzarelli
Jersey Bounce, a jazz number

[journeybear]

It will be a long uphill climb, but try "Garden State Stomp" by Dave Van Ronk. It is a list of city and town names set to a ragtime/circle of fifths type progression. Not much melody, though; it's all about the lyrics, and their delivery. And "Jersey Bounce" is a really snazzy number.

[Samjessin]

The Trial of Bruno Hauptmann

[MikeEdgerton]

John Gorka's "I'm from New Jersey". I live here, it's ok for me to play it.

The only bluegrass song ever written for New Jersey:

Don Corleone's Breakdown

[PJ Doland]

Second the recommendation for "I Like Jersey Best" by John Pizzarelli.

[AlanN]

I have a live tape of John on that, with his Dad Bucky (both from the Silk City area). In between the verses, they throw in the hook from Jersey Bounce. Some of the lyrics are dated now, but has the great line

Our Giants could go all the way or they could win just one
But those parties in the lots before the games are always funnnnn.

[journeybear]

Don't forget "Atlantic City" - either by The Boss or (preferably) The Band, whose version is driven by Levon Helm's mandolin.

Speaking of Springsteen, as far as I know (and I admit, I haven't listened to his later work as closely as his earlier songs) the only actual mention of New Jersey in one of songs is in "Blinded By The Light":

My machine she's a dud, stuck in the mud
Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey.

Not enough for your purposes.

[AlanN]

And then there's Hackensack, by Monk.

Not too mando-friendly, well....You Needn't

[allenhopkins]

OK, there's The Rolling Mills of New Joisey (that's "Jersey," really).

You take Matt McGinn's great Scottish song The Rolling Hills of the Borders:



And substitute the following lyrics:

Chorus: When I die, bury me low, where I can hear the petroleum flow;
A sweeter sound I never did know, the rolling mills of New Joisey.

1. In Hoboken, there will be, trash as far as the eye can see;
Enough for you, enough for me; the garbage cans of New Joisey.

2. Down in Trenton, there's a bar, where the bums come from near and far;
They come by truck, they come by car; the lousy bums of New Joisey

3. When first I started to roam, I traveled far away from Bayonne;
Then I sat down and wrote a pome*; I wrote an ode to New Joisey.

*"poem"

No, really, don't thank me...

[journeybear]

Hey! I know that song! One of the adjunct members of the Philadelphia Jug Band sings that every year at the campfire at Fest. (He favors humorous songs, like "I Wanna Kiss Her But She Won't Let Me" and "Dolly Partons Hits.") This song always gets done a capella in a slow, almost reverent manner - which makes it all the more funny. Whose song is that?

[journeybear]

OK - answering my own question here ... John Roberts and Tony Barrand

Also, the melody is there in staff notation.

At the bottom is a mention of mudcat (good old mudcat!), and a search there turned up another verse, probably not from the original, a bit more risqué:

What's that smell, so rank and raucous?
Did somebody f*rt, or are we in Secaucus?
What's that aroma, that essence unknown?
Did you just blow lunch or are we in Bayonne?

[Matt DeBlass]

A lot of great stuff, but I'm also looking for some more traditional (as in "I can record it without having to pay copyright on it") stuff
I like the "Jersey Bounce" though.
I'm also tempted to work out a folkified version of "Brandy, You're a Fine Girl" because of its local connection (the band The Looking Glass got its start in the bars around Rutgers University, and the song itself was based around a local legend).
If I can put together some sort of coherent "New Jersey in Song" program, I figure I also may be able to market it to local historical groups and public libraries, this could be a lot of fun.

[MikeEdgerton]

... I figure I also may be able to market it to local historical groups and public libraries....

Uh.... Matt, have you read any local news papers lately?

[Hayduke]

"Jersey Girl" by the Shockenaw Mountain Boys. I don't know the origin of the song, but it is sung my Tim Carbone from Railroad Earth. The band is made up of some of the RRE guys and I found it on archive.org.

[MikeEdgerton]

The song Jersey Girl was writen by Tom Waits and recorded by Bruce Springsteen among others. It's not uncommon for NJ bands to do it.

[allenhopkins]

OK, getting serious: there are songs about the Battle of Trenton; here's one. Only the lyrics have survived, so you'd need to find a tune for it. Bruce Springsteen wrote A Night With the Jersey Devil, about NJ's resident "critter"; very rock'n'roll, good luck making "folk" out of it! I'm From New Jersey (Sinatra sang it) almost became the state song, but two separate governors wouldn't sign the legislation; here are the lyrics, and you can find YouTube video of it, as well as John Gorka's song of the same name (much different, though!). The composer of the first song, 86-year-old Red Mascara (and I thought mascara was black!) is still trying to get it adopted officially. The Andrews Sisters recorded Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey and it was supposedly popular in the '40's.

Any state has a repertoire of music built around its major industries, geographic features, or historical personages. Here in New York, the Erie Canal is a nearly-inexhaustible source of good historical songs. There are also local composers: within a few miles of Rochester NY, songs like Aura Lea, Faded Coat of Blue, A Life On the Ocean Wave, Angel Band, Jesus Loves Me, Rochester Schottische (obviously), When There's Love At Home, etc., were either composed, or at least the composers lived there for a period. There was a fad for local songbooks a century ago -- we have our Rochester Songbook, from about 1914 -- and there are songs about all kinds of local features and historical happenings (Sam Patch, e.g.). Visits to a few historical society libraries, or talks with local historians, will dig up enough material to put together a very good program of "New Jersey In Song."

[MikeEdgerton]

New Jersey does not have a state song and I have always been somewhat amazed by that.

[allenhopkins]

Uh.... Matt, have you read any local news papers lately?

Surprisingly, Mike, I do a pretty decent musical business providing musical programs to libraries and historical societies (doing one this Sunday, for instance). Erie Canal songs, Civil War songs, railroad songs, songs of Irish immigration, etc. -- I'm already booked various places around the state for 2011, and with the Civil War sesquicentennial starting next year, I expect a bit of work in that area. Costume, period instruments, and a good historical background narration for the musical selections, and even with the recession, there's still a market out there.

I'd think, if a "New Jersey Songs" program doesn't now exist, and if Matt can assemble one and get the word out regionally, he might have a marketable item. There are websites where you list yourself, and libraries visit them in search of programs for their patrons. I've been around the Rochester area, and in various other New York communities, over the past ten years, and I have five or six jobs lined up for the next six months. Not big pay, but a lot of fun.

[MikeEdgerton]

The financial status of any public entity in New Jersey right now is such that you wouldn't want to see the backlash associated with buying something like this. We won't go political but we're not in great shape. Most libraries are simply trying to stay open right now.

[allenhopkins]

The financial status of any public entity in New Jersey right now is such that you wouldn't want to see the backlash associated with buying something like this. We won't go political but we're not in great shape. Most libraries are simply trying to stay open right now.

Similar situation here, with librarian positions being "attritioned," and hours being cut back. The smaller town libraries, however, often have only one or two paid staff, with the rest volunteers, and get support from local governments, which survives the state cutbacks. Most of my work is with small-town and rural libraries, who sometimes can get together and hire me for two or three visits to different libraries in a single day. Each one pays a smaller fee, and I get a decent day's pay. I did two separate visits to St. Johnsville and Fort Plain this year; the libraries are about eight miles apart, and I did a program at each one for a couple hundred buxx -- made for a fairly remunerative day. In these small towns the library is often the only cultural center, and the staff feels the need to provide programming for their community beyond just lending books. Often there's a "Friends" group that raises money for programming at the library; my Jewish-music band drew a hundred people to jam the community room in a largely-Jewish suburb's library in September, funded by the "Friends of the Library." So it can be done -- not as easily as five years ago, but the market's still out there.

[journeybear]

New Jersey does not have a state song and I have always been somewhat amazed by that.

I remember a few years back there was a push to get "Born To Run" named the state song. I never heard what happened but I do also remember opponents pointed out the lyrics are a bit - ahem - critical of certain aspects of the writer's (or narrator's, if you must) hometown, purportedly located in the Garden State. Musically and production-wise, it is stirring, but the thought of schoolchildren singing "it's a death trap, it's a sucide rap" is wrong-headed on a surreal level.

Reminded me at the time how years earlier President Reagan caught some flak for using "Born In The USA" during his reelection campaign - without getting permission from The Boss. Again, stirring music, not exactly upbeat lyrics.

[PS: Please remember this is a musical, not political, point.]

But to carry us back to New Jersey ... I found myself scratching my head over this (I had previously assumed NJ had a song and the above-mentioned push was intended to replace whatever it was), so I did a little searching. According to the wiki: New Jersey does not have an official state song, while Virginia's state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (adopted 1940), is now considered the "emeritus" state song and is scheduled to be replaced, having been rescinded by the Virginia General Assembly.

Time for songwriters to get busy!

[Matt DeBlass]

Uh.... Matt, have you read any local news papers lately?

Read them? I used to be a reporter/editor for a local paper, but got canned when they cut the staff in half.
Libraries are still hosting some programs though, and independent historical societies are doing OK, funding is pretty scarce, but so are jobs, I figure at this point there isn't much to lose.

[JeffD]

John Gorka's "I'm from New Jersey". I live here, it's ok for me to play it.

I grew up in NJ and the part of John Gorka's song that rings really really true for me is the expression on his face at 3:28 and 3:29. Listen from 3:15 on. Cracks me up with its authenticity. The rest of it is more generic feeling.

But maybe thats it. When I think of NJ I think of a generic state. Its remembered for not being New York, mostly.

[Dan Hoover]

"tweeter and the monkey man" traveling wilbury's..been listening to them a bunch last couple weeks..i read that "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" is about new jersey?written by mann/weil.."you can't catch me" chuck berry..great tune...i'm sure the boss listened to that a lot??
seems like most songs about new jersey are about trying to get out of jersey?? whats up w/that??