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ATLANTIC CITY (2006)


There’s an old Jewish guy closing his shop
The one just a block from the pier
He’s tired of everyone calling him ”Pop”
His wife passed away just last year
He breathes out some steam on the real estate sign
The one that thank goodness says ”Sold”
He thinks Sarasota will suit him just fine
And he tightens his coat in the cold

(chorus)
And a cold wind blows
In Atlantic City
Over the ocean
Across the sands
Everyone knows
In Atlantic City
The shifting emotion
Of losing hands

The young man moves up to deliver room service
With packets of blow and of weed
Keeps his head down, he always gets nervous
But he gets what the high rollers need
And he goes past the boardwalk, where nobody browses
Sees people who don’t come to play
The people who live near the boarded-up houses
With no chance of moving away

(chorus)

Under the Boardwalk it’s not what it was
It’s no place for love anymore
The splash of the waves is drowned out by the buzz
That you hear indoor
On the casino floor


Ask and you might find an interesting story
On the buses that always come through
This woman here was almost Miss Missouri
In the pageant in seventy-two
Miss America has now left the building
Off to the south or the west
Take down the neon and peel back the gilding
And try not to get too depressed

(chorus)

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Music by Jordan Michael Peterson, a fabulous young composer from the Midwest.

In some ways, this song is a little dated -- the dissolution of the "old" Atlantic City has been done as early as 1981, with the movie.

But the promise of the casinos to transform the city has not really happened, and there are still slow changes. This song was prompted by the news that the Miss America pageant was moving to either Nashville or Las Vegas (since then, it’s been set for Vegas, but produced by CMT in Nashville).

This song is featured on Jordan’s new 10-song CD "Reflections, available at his Soundclick site, and also at his website!

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