Sure, sometimes it feels like Springsteen writes his lyrics with a Rand-McNally atlas open at his side. But when you tote up the states he mentions by name (that means we don’t count Tennessee because of a Memphis reference, or “all the Northeast state” in “Racing in the Street”), there’s only eighteen of them. His home states of New Jersey and California are in the most songs, seven each. The list, for would-be road-trippers: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. If you’re a resident of another state and you want Bruce to rectify this slap in the face, we suggest you circulate a petition.

(Excerpted from the 2006 book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John?: Music’s Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, published by Three Rivers Press, written by Gavin Edwards.)