"A Night with the Jersey Devil" is a song by the American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen.
The song was released as a download-only single, accompanied by a video, on October 31, 2008, as a "Halloween treat" on the artist's website. This release featured a handwritten note by Springsteen:
- Dear Friends and Fans,
if you grew up in central or south Jersey, you grew up with the "Jersey Devil."
Here's a little musical Halloween treat. Have fun!
- Bruce Springsteen
The video is included the deluxe edition DVD of Springsteen's Working on a Dream album, released in 2009.[1] It is a blues tune with bullet mic vocals, including portions of the Gene Vincent 1958 song "Baby Blue" (specifically, one verse – featured here as the last verse), and therefore Springsteen shares the song's writing credits with the two co-writers of "Baby Blue", Robert Jones and Gene Vincent.
Springsteen's lyrics tell the story of a legendary creature known as the "Jersey Devil"; in 1735 a woman called "Mother Leeds" gave birth to her 13th child, who metamorphosed into an evil creature with bat wings, forked feet and a horse's head; because of this, his parents threw him in a river where he drowned and now haunts the Pine Barrens in New Jersey.[2]
The song was released on 7" vinyl along with "What Love Can Do" on April 18, 2009, as part of the Record Store Day promotion.[3]
References
edit- ^ Ray, Austin L. (November 17, 2008). "Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream gets date, tracklist". Paste. Paste Media Group. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
- ^ Vena, Jocelyn (October 31, 2008). Bruce Springsteen’s Halloween Treat: 'A Night With The Jersey Devil' Archived November 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine MTV News.
- ^ "List of 2009 Record Store Day Releases". Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
External links
edit- A Night With The Jersey Devil Lyrics
- Gene Vincent singing "Baby Blue"
- Official Robert Jones website
- Official Bruce Springsteen website