Sprung from cages out on highway 9

I've been spending the better part of my creative energies praising New Orleans and bashing my former home of New Jersey.  I have noticed that the vast majority of Americans do use NJ as a punch line. I still have a few good friends left in the Garden State and I don't want to alienate them by deriding their homeland without cause. So, I thought I might offer up some interesting trivia about one of the original 13 colonies.

New Jersey has the highest population density in the country, it averages 1,030 people per square mile. 90% of New Jersians live in urban areas, which is 13 times the national average.  All of it's 21 counties are classified as metropolitan areas. In a 25 mile radius around Paramus, there are 7 major shopping malls, the highest concentration in the world. NJ can also boast the densest concentration of diners, highways, railroads and toxic waste dumps in the nation, as well as the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East, so one perk of living there is cheaper gasoline.  

The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive

Everybodys out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide

New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation, and hosts the largest seaport in the U.S. located in Elizabeth. The second leading industry is tourism. Confusing contrasts like the highest car thefts, and lowest suicide rate in the nation. Jersey has the most diverse mix of national origins of any state in the union, with more Cubans living in Union City than Havana Cuba. 

 

Firsts that New Jersey can boast of: first light bulb, first phonograph, first motion picture projector, first motion picture ever made, first intercollegiate football game, first baseball game, first basketball game, first indian reservation, first submarine, first seaplane, first steam locomotive, first Colt revolver, first asphalt street, first radio and television transmissions, first balloon flight, first airport, first transistor and probably hundred of other trivial firsts like the first drive in theater.

"Uncle Floyd" Vivino Aaron Burr Admiral Wm.Halsey Jr. Alan Alda Alan Ginsberg Althea Gibson Anne Morrow Lindbergh Annie Oakley Ben Franklin Bill Haley Bob Reyers Brooke Shields Bruce Springsteen Bruce Willis Budd Abbott & Lou Costello Buzz Aldrin Caesar Romero Cecille b. DeMille Charles Addams Charles Lindberg Christopher Reeve Clara Barton Connie Frances Count Basie Danny DeVito Dave Thomas (Wendy's) Debbie Boone Dick Buttons Dionne Warwick Doris Duke Ed Koch Eddie Murphy Eileen Donnelly Elisabeth Shue Ernie Kovacs Eugene O'Neill Eva Marie Saint

Flip Wilson Francis Albert Sinatra Frankie Valli George Segal Glenn Miller Gorden McCrae Grover Cleveland Ice-T Jack Nicholson James Fennimore Cooper James Gandolfino Jason Alexander Jerome Kern Jerry Herman Jerry Lewis Jimmy Roselli Joan Robertson Joe Pesci Joe Piscopo John Forsythe John Travolta Jon Bon Jovi Joseph Macchia Joyce Kilmer Judy Blume Kelly Ripa Ken Kross Kevin Smith Kevin Spacey Lauryn Hill Liberace Linda McElroy Loretta Swit Marilynn McCoo Marvin Creamer Mary Higgins Clark Melba Moore

Meryl Streep Mike Tyson Milton Friedman Nathan Lane Nick Adams Norman Lloyd Norman Mailer Norman Schwarzkopf Paul Robeson Paul Simon Phyllis Newman Queen Latifah Ray Liotta Richard Conti Richard Nixon Ricky Nelson Robert Blake Robert Wuhl Sal Martorano Sandra Dee Sarah Vaughn Shaq Stephen Crane Susan Sarandon Tom Cruise Tommy Dorsey Vince Lombardi Walt Whitman Whitney Houston William Carlos Williams William Cooper Woodrow Wilson Yogi Berra Zebulon Pike Lloyd Zack Braff

Baby this town rips the bones from your back
Its a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while were young