The 1960 single “Jersey City,” by Bobby Long.
“Jersey City, I’m on my way,” sang Bobby Long in his 1960 blues song, “Jersey City.” The singer has to leave his girlfriend or wife behind in the South and relocate to New Jersey, temporarily. “They say the town is jumping and there’s money to be found,” he sings.
I was not able to find any information about Long (I couldn’t even find a picture of him), though I did find some more about the guitarist who takes the great solo at the 1:15 mark, Wild Jimmy Spruill. Also, the song is credited to Toombs, Long and Holzer. Toombs is presumably Rudy Toombs, a Louisiana native who came to New York to work at Atlantic Records; he’s got some pretty impressive songwriting credits to his name, including “Teardrops From My Eyes,” “One Mint Julep” and “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer.”
If anyone has more information on Long, please let me know in the comments section below, or email me at njartsdaily@gmail.com. Thanks.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday from Sept. 2014 to Sept. 2015. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked 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. The complete list is here.
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