Cool Video: Couple Visits All 80 Towns Mentioned in NJ Folk Song
Are you familiar with the Garden State Stomp?
No, it was not a way of "taking care of somebody" on the Sopranos...
The Garden State Stomp is a song that mentions something like 80 names of different New Jersey towns, cities and places. (For the record, MOST seem to be in North Jersey.)
The folk song was written and recorded by Dave Van Ronk in the 1980s. According to NJArts.net, Van Ronk passed away back in 2002 at he age of 65. Apparently, it was Van Ronk's wish that New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen would someday sing and record the song. That has yet to happen.... (Bruce?)
Anyway, Van Ronk wrote and recorded this novelty song, and that was that. It never really became popular, and most people have never heard of it.
Fast forward to the present time and a couple has taken it upon themselves to apparently pick up and carry Van Ronk's torch for the song. They have used the song to make a video in which they travel to every location mentioned in the lyrics. That must have been a lot of travel! Check out the video:
OK, that's pretty cool, right? (Honestly, I've never heard of half of these places! Jugtown? Turkey Foot? Wawayanda? (I wonder if there's a Wawa there?)
If you're feeling particularly adventurous, maybe you can do the same thing in 2022!
Thanks, Van Ronk, for an interesting song, and we hope that Springsteen gets on the stick and records this thing one of these days!
SOURCE: NJArts.net