donderdag, juni 28

James Joyce once boasted that, should Dublin ever disappear off the face of the earth, the city could be reconstructed from the references to it in ‘Ulysses’.

The maker of this map did something similar: ‘Bruceville’ is New Jersey, as it can be reconstructed out of Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics.

Although one of his most famous albums was called ‘Nebraska’ (and one of his best-stelling singles was ‘Streets of Philadelphia’),

Springsteen can’t hide the fact that he’s a real Jersey boy.

The lyrics to his songs are peppered with references to the landscape of the Garden State.

The Boss’s New Jersey is populated by ominous darknesses, glittering fairgrounds, empty parking lots, pining sweethearts, blinding ad signs – a landscape seen from that most essential machine for American living, the car.