‘My Garden State,’ Dave Murphy

by JAY LUSTIG
DAVE MURPHY

LOUISE VYENT

DAVE MURPHY

It’s not unusual for a New Jerseyan to yearn to be somewhere else. Yet once you’re away, you just might yearn to be back.

Dave Murphy sang about this phenomenon in “My Garden State,” from his 2002 album Chasing Ghosts, and even got a bit cosmic about it: “Lately I’ve been thinking more ’bout life and death/That’s why I left the state where you have to hold your breath/But the grass is always greener when the hills are far away/Now I’m heading back to Jersey, that’s all I’m gonna say.”

Check it this warm, easy-going salute to New Jersey, below.

New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.

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