Greatest State Ever

Here is one of the classic early 1990s WNBC “We’re 4 New York” promo composed by Edd Kalehoff. New Jersey gets a brief mention with Jersey Shore at about 55 seconds in, but only after they mention Greenwich in Connecticut. It is still a bit better than what happened with the original 1992 version, which didn’t even mention the Garden State. But the original is truly a classic and you get to see Chuck, Sue, Len, Al Roker, Carol Jenkins, and the late great Ralph Penza, which sort of makes up for the short shrift of New Jersey. This is what happens when almost all of the state’s TV coverage comes from next door! Although we should mention that WNBC does have the best New Jersey coverage of any of the New York stations including the “Yeah we’re a New Jersey station” WWOR.

We have already mentioned some New Jersey music. First we mentioned the classic NJN station image song “Positively New Jersey”, then we mentioned in passing Uncle Floyd’s classic ode to New Jersey “Deep in the Heart of Jersey” - a song that brings a smile to almost everyone that hears it - and yesterday the lyric from the classic Paul Simon song America - Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. They’ve all gone to look for America..

But where do you start when talking about music in New Jersey? Frank Sinatra? Bruce Springsteen? Count Basie? Paul Robeson? George Walker? Nelson Riddle? Jon Bon Jovi? Connie Francis? The Stone Pony? Princeton Record Exchange?

Not there. Given the all of the musical talent that the Garden State has produced, there is a great irony.

New Jersey doesn’t have a state song.

Thankfully one proposed song, which has a website which bespeaks the quality of the music, called “I’m From New Jersey” written by a “Red Mascara” in the 1960s has never gotten off the ground. Basically it is a 1960s ad jingle and lacks the staying power of the suspiciously similar sounding classic “Meet the Mets“.

It shouldn’t be confused with singer-songwriter and Newark native John Gorka’s “I’m From New Jersey” that would be perfect for a state song:
I’m from New Jersey, I don’t expect too much
If the world ended today, I would adjust

I’m from New Jersey, I don’t expect too much
If the world ended today, I would adjust
I would adjust, I would adjust

If that doesn’t sum up New Jersey, we don’t know what does. Well maybe if it mentioned the Turnpike. Nah.

We recently heard the song America written by Paul Simon being talked about on WNYC’s Soundcheck and we noticed a lyric from the forty year old Simon and Garfunkel song:

It struck us that you can really find a microcosm of America in the Garden State. Urban, rural, multi-ethnic, good government, bad government, safe places to live, dangerous places to live, farms, factories, suburbs, cities, cannolis, curries, and more.

So the lyrics are probably more apropos today than forty years ago, since you can just take the Turnpike and find America - good, bad, and ugly. It is one of the things that makes the Garden State great and of course not so great, but that is what makes it the Greatest State Ever.