Atlantic City

FIST FULL OF DOLLARS - V1 3:44 FFOD / HNWB / MT2
FIST FULL OF DOLLARS - V2 2:24 FFOD / HNWB
ATLANTIC CITY - V3 1:40 FFOD / HNWB
ATLANTIC CITY - V4 take 1 uncirculating
ATLANTIC CITY - V5 - take 4 4:00 LM-1
ATLANTIC CITY - V6a - take 3 3:56 NEBRASKA / GREATEST / ESSENTIAL / BESTOF
ATLANTIC CITY - V6b - take 3 - stereo mix 3:43 NEBRASKA
ATLANTIC CITY - V7 uncirculating

Note: Two demos (V1 & V2) were recorded in April 1981, under the title "Fist Full Of Dollars", but they also had quite a few verses written, all about Atlantic City. You can hear him turning pages of his notebook as he worked on them. Some lyrics would remain for "Atlantic City", including the opening lines "Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night / Now that town sets in for a fight."

The story continues in late 1981, still at Colts Neck with V3. The lyrics are getting into shape; The rest is Bruce trying variations of the chorus. V4, V5 and V6 were recorded on his Portastudio at Colts Neck during a two-week period, December 17 to January 3, 1982, with V6 take 3 chosen for Nebraska. Take 1, V4 is the only outtake from this session. In a letter to Jon Landau, Springsteen noted that "this song should probably be done with the whole band really rockin' out." And indeed, Bruce went into the studio for two weeks from late April 1982 and spent the first day working on "Atlantic City", and a number of takes were cut at the Power Station over three days on April 26–28, 1982. However these recordings remain unheard; information from various sources suggests this was with the band, but we can't confirm.

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