New Map Traces Springsteen's New Jersey

Bruce Springsteen has written so many songs referencing his home state, it sometimes seems like all of New Jersey is a matrix of E Street memories. Graphic artist Daniel Cassaro recently set out to prove the point, drawing up a map of the state that features more than 200 references to Springsteen's lyrics along its meticulously sketched backstreets and Badlands, from The River to a drawn-out Darkness at the Edge of Town. The "Springstreets" map is available for purchase on Young Jerks Be Free Tonight (via Paste Magazine ).

Check out artifacts from Bruce Springsteen's four-decade career.

Cassaro's attention to detail is impressive: the map includes the Coast City Bus ticket office from "Atlantic City," the fish lady from "Lost In The Floor," the "quicksand/not mud" line from "Lost in the Flood" and the textile mill 'cross the railroad tracks from "My Hometown." The map also reveals that Scooter, the "bad" character "searching for his groove" in "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," could find said groove located on the corner of 8th Ave., and shows the location of Perrineville, where Joe Roberts, Springsteen's "Highway Patrolman," is stationed.

Cassaro called the project "very ambitious and nerdy" in an interview with the Typo-Graphical blog. The illustrator, who has made artwork inspired by Paul McCartney, added, "It's becoming a bit of an obsession, though. I'll have to cut myself off at some point. Hopefully before Lucky Town."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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