Give good old Wikipedia a great new look: Cover photo is available under {{::mainImage.info.license.name || 'Unknown'}} license. [9], Bill Janovitz writing for AllMusic feels it is one of Waits' most tender songs, and that it captures a feeling of romantic longing despite its somewhat gritty details. Waits has always been gifted with an ear for conversation, and he can fit bits of everyday dialogue seamlessly into songs: "So don't bother me 'cause I got no time/I'm on my way to see that girl of mine." Renee Cologne covered the song on her 2019 release, This page was last edited on 11 August 2020, at 22:56. From the R&B-heavy album Heartattack and Vine (1980), Tom Waits sets down a Drifters-type groove for the very romantic love ballad "Jersey Girl." A Springsteen cover that was originally written and performed by Tom Waits, “Jersey Girl” is the final song off of Live/1975-85.. "Jersey Girl" by Jersey Crime Boss Mack-Nice Waits also included a quiet performance of it during his 1999 appearance on VH1 Storytellers. [1] The July 9 performance of "Jersey Girl" was used as 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.[5]. Corinne Bailey Rae covered the song on the 2019 compilation 'Women Sing Waits' of various women singing Waits songs. His characters are usually working class and, like Raymond Carver's, their lives are filled with drama, tragedy, and often sublimely beautiful moments. 1,000+ song search results for Jersey Girl . The "whores" line seems to be influenced, if only subconsciously, by the Simon & Garfunkel line from "The Boxer": "Just a come-on from the whores on 7th Avenue." In a 1980 interview around the time of the record's release, Waits said, "I never thought I would catch myself saying 'sha la la' in a song," adding, "This is my first experiment with 'sha la la.'" Well, I've done all I can for him. Indeed, it seemed as if Waits out-Bruced Bruce with "Jersey Girl." Song. Waits wrote the song for his future wife Kathleen Brennan, who had been living in New Jersey. ... BuzzFeed Staff. 1. The July 9 performance of "Jersey Girl" was used as 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. ". Sha la la la I'm in love with a jersey girl You know she thrills me with all her charms When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms My little girl gives me everything I know that some day she'll wear my ring So don't bother me man I ain't got no time I'm on my way to see that girl of mine 'cause nothing matters in this whole wide world Waits' guitar part and the tempo are evocative of the seaside, with the ringing notes reminiscent of the sound of distant buoys and sailing rigs. Written for his wife-to-be at the time, Kathleen Brennan, who had been living in New Jersey, the lyrics are heartfelt, from the point of view of a smitten narrator about to abandon the bachelor life: "Got no time for the corner boys/Down in the street making all that noise/Don't want no whores on 8th Avenue/'Cause tonight I want to be with you." Waits is heard singing the first verse and then harmonizing with Springsteen on bootleg recordings of the momentous event. You can help our automatic cover photo selection by reporting an unsuitable photo. The July 9, 1981 performance from this stand was used on the "Cover Me" release. Featuring Waits' longtime bassist Greg Cohen, Roland Bautista on 12-string guitar, "Big John" Thomassie on drums, and Victor Feldman on keyboards, glockenspiel, and percussion, the band follows the slowed-down "Under the Boardwalk"-like riff that Waits prods out of his old semi-hollow-body guitar. Waits was also brought on-stage by Springsteen at one of the latter's arena shows in L.A. in 1981. Similarly gritty-voiced singer Bruce Springsteen lugged Waits a bit closer to the mainstream when he started covering "Jersey Girl" in live shows in the early '80s, and it soon became one of his standards. [3] Springsteen 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"[4] (This line was originally written for "Party Lights", an out-take from The River, which wasn't officially released until 2015). [1], The song, performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, was released as the B-side of the 1984 single "Cover Me". Your input will affect cover photo selection, along with input from other users. Similarly gritty-voiced singer Bruce Springsteen lugged Waits a bit closer to the mainstream when he started covering "Jersey Girl" in live shows in the early '80s, and it soon became one of his standards. [8] 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.

A few weeks later on August 24, Waits joined Springsteen on-stage at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to perform the song together. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Jersey Girl (song) . The song only hints slightly at the more disjointed rhythms and tones Waits would move toward when he left the singer/songwriter-dominated Asylum label. This is my first experiment with 'sha la la. He's on his own now. The arrangement builds to a climax with the help of Jerry Yester orchestration. Waits dedicates "Jersey Girl" to Brennan before he plays a quiet, intimate version on VH1's Storytellers. [1][2], The song is included on Waits' compilation albums Bounced Checks (1981), Anthology of Tom Waits (1985), and Used Songs, 1973-1980 (2001). Would you like to suggest this photo as the cover photo for this article? {{::mainImage.info.license.name || 'Unknown'}}, {{current.info.license.usageTerms || current.info.license.name || current.info.license.detected || 'Unknown'}}, Uploaded by: {{current.info.uploadUser}} on {{current.info.uploadDate | date:'mediumDate'}}.