Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Philadelphia Lyrics
I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt.
I was unrecognizable to myself.
Saw my reflection in a window and didn't know my own face.
Oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin' away
On the streets of Philadelphia.
I walked the avenue, 'til my legs felt like stone,
I heard the voices of friends, vanished and gone,
At night I could hear the blood in my veins,
It was just as black and whispering as the rain,
On the streets of Philadelphia.
Ain't no angel gonna greet me.
It's just you and I my friend.
And my clothes don't fit me no more,
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip this skin.
Night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake,
I can feel myself fading away,
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss,
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of Philadelphia.
Some Song Facts
Director Jonathan Demme used this to open his movie Philadelphia. Starring Tom Hanks, it was about a lawyer dying of AIDS. Demme met Springsteen in 1985 on the video shoot for "Sun City," but had not seen him since. Demme first cut the title sequence of Philadelphia to "Southern Man" and asked Neil Young to write a song like it for the movie. Young gave him "Philadelphia," which he used at the end of the film. Still needing a song for the open, he called Springsteen.
Demme asked Springsteen for a rock song to open his movie. Bruce started writing it based on lyrics he had previously written about the death of one of his friends, but it did not work over a rock beat. Springsteen sent what he came up with to Demme, considering it an unfinished demo. Demme loved it and felt it was perfect for his movie just as it was.
Springsteen recorded this in his home studio in New Jersey, where he did the entire Nebraska album.
This was the first of 5 previously unreleased songs included on Springsteen's 1995 Greatest Hits album.
The highest charting Springsteen song in England.
This won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1994, beating out Neil Young's "Philadelphia," which was also written for the movie. Tom Hanks won his first Best Actor Oscar for his role in the movie.
Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS issues to see his film. He felt Springsteen and Young would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease.
This won Grammys for Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Male Vocal, and Best Song Written For a Motion Picture or Television. Springsteen opened the show in 1995 performing this.
This was the first song Springsteen wrote specifically for a movie. He gave Paul Schrader "Light Of Day" for the 1987 movie, but did not write it specifically for him.
Demme directed Springsteen's video for "Murder Incorporated" in 1995.
Springsteen broke up his E-Street Band in 1989 and performed as a solo artist for most of the '90s. In 1995, he did a solo tour in small venues to support the rather depressing Ghost of Tom Joad album.
Springsteen's concerts in the 1970's and '80s were a religious display of energy, charisma and stamina, usually carrying on for over 4 hours straight. The E Street Band was reunited in 1999 for a world tour that started in Europe and kicked off in America with 15 dates at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Bruce and the E Street Band still play for 3 hours minimum. (thanks, Jacob - Harrison, NY)
Bruce is the president and sole benefactor of The Foundation, a charity that provides low income people in Monmouth County, New Jersey, with home repairs.
He hates his nickname "The Boss." It was given to him by overwhelmed musicians in Asbury Park, NJ in the early '70s.
He retains strict control of his publishing and doesn't allow his songs to be used in commercials. However, sales of Levi's went up after Born In The USA showed him wearing their jeans on the album cover.
Springsteen never had a job besides making and playing music.
Writing through characters is a way for Springsteen to keep his ego in check and remain a keen observer of the world around him. "The mistake is in thinking that you are those songs," he said in a 1974 interview with ZigZag. "To me a song is a vision, a flash, and what I see is characters in situations."
Springsteen performed on David Letterman's last show on NBC.
He inducted Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, U2 and Creedence Clearwater Revival into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was inducted by Bono in 1999.
He appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek on October 27, 1975, becoming the first entertainer to do so.
E-Street Drummer Max Weinberg is the drummer for the late night talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. (thanks, Joe - Los Angeles, CA)
One of the villains in the Dick Tracy comic strip wore an E Street Band T-shirt.
In 1984, Springsteen expressed his anger at President Reagan for trying to use his music for political purposes. When living in California in the mid-1990s, Springsteen found himself one of Reagan's neighbors.
The decision to build the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was based partly on a survey showing that people who attended Springsteen concerts also love to gamble.
Despite his massive popularity, Springsteen has never had a #1 single.
Bruce Springsteen's rider for his 2002-2003 tour included a security guard to watch over his guitars exclusively.
Bruce's father, Douglas Springsteen, was largely unemployed when he was growing up, leaving his mother, Adele Ann, to be the family's breadwinner with her job as a legal secretary.
Bruce's younger sister, Pamela, is a still photographer. She took photos for his Human Touch, Lucky Town and The Ghost of Tom Joad albums.
Springsteen was called up to serve in Vietnam, but failed his physical examination having suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17. This together with his "crazy" behavior at induction resulted in being enough to get him a 4F, which disqualified Bruce from serving in uniform.
A 1985 Springsteen gig almost rocked the Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden to pieces. The owners had to spend $5 million drilling concrete pillars down through clay into solid bedrock.
Springsteen was born in a Roman Catholic household and peppers his lyrics with spiritual imagery. In 2013, Rutgers University in New Jersey began offering students a course on the theological underpinnings of Springsteen's lyrics, looking at how he has interpreted biblical texts in his work. Good luck with "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!"
He made a cameo in the 2000 John Cusak movie Hi Fidelity.
Streets of Philadelphia
| "Streets of Philadelphia" | ||||||||
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| Single by Bruce Springsteen | ||||||||
| from the album Philadelphia soundtrack | ||||||||
| B-side | "If I Should Fall Behind" | |||||||
| Released | February 2, 1994 | |||||||
| Format |
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| Recorded | July–August 1993 | |||||||
| Genre |
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| Length | 3:15 (single edit) 4:17 (soundtrack version) | |||||||
| Label | Columbia | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Bruce Springsteen[1] | |||||||
| Producer(s) |
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| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||||||
| Bruce Springsteen singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Streets of Philadelphia" is a song written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the film Philadelphia (1993), an early mainstream film dealing with HIV/AIDS.Released as a single in 1994, the song was a hit in many countries, particularly Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and Norway, where it topped the singles charts.
The song was a critical triumph and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song and four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television. In 2004 it finished at #68 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
History
In early 1993, Philadelphia director Jonathan Demme asked Springsteen to write a song for the in-progress film, and in June, after the conclusion of the "Other Band" Tour, Springsteen did so. It was recorded with Springsteen supplying almost all of the instrumentation, with bass and background vocals from "Other Band" member Tommy Sims. Additional saxophone and vocal parts by Ornette Coleman and "Little" Jimmy Scott, respectively, were recorded but never used—although those elements are used in a brief scene in the film when Tom Hanks exits Denzel Washington's office. Released in early 1994 as the main single from the film's original soundtrack, it became a huge success for Springsteen all over Europe and North America.
"Streets of Philadelphia" achieved greater popularity in Europe than in the United States. While it peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it became a number-one single in Germany, France and Austria. It peaked at number two in the United Kingdom becoming Springsteen's highest charting hit in Britain, and number four in Australia. As of 2012, "Streets of Philadelphia" ranks as his most recent top ten hit. The song was included on the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999.
Music video
The music video for the song, directed by Jonathan Demme and his nephew Ted Demme, begins by showing Springsteen walking along desolate city streets, followed by a bustling park and schoolyard, interspersed with footage from the film. After a quick shot of Rittenhouse Square, it ends with Springsteen walking along the Delaware River, with the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in the background. Tom Hanks is also visible as the lead character he plays in the film, looking on as Bruce begins the final verse.
The vocal track for the video was recorded live during the shooting, using a hidden microphone, to a pre-recorded instrumental track. This was a technique, appropriate for emotionally intense songs for which conventional video lip-syncing would seem especially false, that John Mellencamppioneered in his 1985 "Rain on the Scarecrow" video, and that Springsteen himself had used on his 1987 "Brilliant Disguise" video. Springsteen would go on to use the same technique in his "Lonesome Day" video in 2002.[citation needed]
Live performance history[edit]
Because of the song's sterling achievements in the awards world, Springsteen played the song live in three high-visibility, prime-time awards show broadcasts: at the 66th Academy Awards in March 1994, at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1994, and at the Grammy Awards of 1995 in March 1995. Between this, Philadelphia's strong box office performance, and the single being a Top 10 pop hit, "Streets of Philadelphia" became one of Springsteen's best-known songs to the general music audience.
Nonetheless, Springsteen went on to perform the song only sparingly in his own concerts. In solo guitar form and missing the song's trademark synthesizers-and-drums feel, it was performed semi-regularly on the solo and stark 1995-1997 Ghost of Tom Joad Tour. After that, the song became a rarity, only appearing a dozen times on the 1999-2000 E Street Band Reunion Tour, and, as of January 2016, only a few times across the nine tours after that.
Cover versions[edit]
The song has been covered live by Melissa Etheridge and David Gray. Recorded covers have been released by Ray Conniff (on his 1997 album, I Love Movies), Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Marah, Liv Kristine, Molly Johnson, Bettye Lavette, SALEM, Gregorian and I Muvrini with Anggun. Philadelphia rappers, Cassidy & the Larsiny Family have made a cover of this song on the Put Ya L in the Sky mixtape, in an effort to stop crime in the city. French artist Patrick Bruel and U2 covered the song, translating the lyrics into French while retaining the music.
After the movie "Philadelphia" was released, many artists covered it. in 1993, when "Rhino Records assembled its box set, Academy Award Winning Songs (1934-1993), the same year, it was unable to license the Springsteen track and instead commissioned Richie Havens to record a cover version".[3]
In 2010, the French string quartet Quatuor Ébène recorded a version on their album Fiction, with drummer Richard Héry, sung by the quartet's violist Mathieu Herzog.
The song is also covered by The Fray on their album Scars and Stories, released in 2012.
In 2011, the German group Gregorian released a Gregorian chant version of the song in their album Masters of Chant Chapter VIII.
Also in 2011 Idols South Africa season seven winner Dave van Vuuren performed the song on the show and recorded it on his album "Free the Animals".[4]
In 2009, it was covered by Luis Eduardo Aute in Catalonian as "Els carrers de Philadelphia", for the CD of TV3's telethon La Marató.[5]
In February 2013 Sir Elton John performed the song at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences tribute concert honoring Bruce Springsteen as the 2013 MusiCares Person of the Year.[6]
Awards won[edit]
- Academy Awards
- Academy Award for Best Original Song[1]
- Golden Globe Awards
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
- Grammy Awards
- Song of the Year
- Best Rock Song
- Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
- Best Song Written for a Motion Picture
- MTV Video Music Awards
- Best Video from a Film
Track listings[edit]
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The B-sides were selected from the previous year's live album In Concert/MTV Plugged.
Charts and sales[edit]
Peak positions[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Certifications[edit]
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