The logo for Bruce Springsteen’s pre-E Street Band group, Steel Mill.
Before there was the E Street Band, there was Steel Mill. And Bruce Springsteen was writing about New Jersey roads, even then.
“Garden State Parkway Blues,” an early Springsteen epic, was performed at least six times by Steel Mill in 1969 and 1970. The band’s lineup for the performance below, at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) in West Long Branch in April 1970, featured Springsteen (on guitar and vocals) and future E Streeter Danny Federici (on organ), Vini Lopez (on drums) and Steven Van Zandt (on bass).
Whereas on Springsteen’s most famous song, “Born to Run,” the highway represents an escape, here’s it’s just another part of the trap.
“I got the Garden State Parkway Blues,” he sings. “Early in the morning, hits you without warning/Going to the job, fighting off the road hogs/Punch in at 9, punch out at 5.”
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday last year. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we are marking the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, for almost a year — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. We started in September 2014, and will keep going until late in the summer.
If you would like to suggest any songs to be included, please let me know in the comments section underneath the video. And if you want to see the entire list, either alphabetically or in the order the songs were selected, click here.
