"Streets of Philadelphia" | ||||
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Single by Bruce Springsteen | ||||
from the album Philadelphia Official Soundtrack | ||||
B-side | "If I Should Fall Behind" | |||
Released | February 11, 1994 | |||
Studio | Thrill Hill West (Beverly Hills, California) [1] | |||
Genre | Soft rock [2] | |||
Length |
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Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bruce Springsteen [3] | |||
Producer(s) |
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Bruce Springsteen singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia" on YouTube |
"Streets of Philadelphia" is a song written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the 1993 film Philadelphia , starring Tom Hanks, an early mainstream film dealing with HIV/AIDS. [4] Released as a single by Columbia Records in 1994, the song was a hit in many countries, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Norway, where it topped the singles charts. In the United States, the single peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Springsteen's 12th and latest top-10 hit.
The song received critical acclaim, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song and four Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television. In 2004, it finished at number 68 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top songs in American cinema. [5] The song is listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. [6]
In early 1993, Philadelphia director Jonathan Demme asked Springsteen to write a song for his film, adding "I want it to play in the malls." Springsteen replied, "Well, I'm interested, so I'd like to come up with a song for you. If you give me some time, I'll see, but I can't promise." Springsteen recalled adding, "I'm not very good at scores."
In late August 1993, following the conclusion of the 1992-1993 World Tour, Springsteen recorded a demo of his completed song at Thrill Hill Recording in Beverly Hills, California, including all the song's instrumentation. He mailed the tape to Demme, who later said, "my wife and I sat down and listened to it, and we were literally weeping by the end". [7] Meanwhile, background vocals were added by Tommy Sims (from the "Other Band").
In October 1993, Springsteen recorded the song at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, with Sims, Ornette Coleman on saxophone, and vocals by "Little" Jimmy Scott. It was mixed by Bob Clearmountain, included in the soundtrack, and the video was recorded. In mid-December, Springsteen replaced the video with his home demo from August, re-shooting some video scenes to eliminate Scott. The four-man combo version can be heard in a brief scene in the film when Tom Hanks exits Denzel Washington's office, but it was Springsteen alone playing over the opening credits.
"Streets of Philadelphia" was released on February 11, 1994. It is the first single from the film's original soundtrack, with Springsteen singing and playing all the instruments with Sims on background vocal.
The song became a worldwide chart success. [8] "Streets of Philadelphia" achieved greater popularity in Europe than in the United States. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but became a number-one single in Germany, France, and Austria. It peaked at number two in the United Kingdom, [3] becoming Springsteen's highest charting hit in the UK. The song reached number four in Australia, and spent five weeks at number one in Ireland.
As of 2024 [update] , "Streets of Philadelphia" is Springsteen's most recent top ten hit in the United States. The song has been included in many subsequent Springsteen compilation albums, including Greatest Hits (1995), The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003), and Best of Bruce Springsteen (2024). It was also included on the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs , released by Sony in 1999.
Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Springsteen's empathetic lyrics and performance zoom straight for the heart, traveling atop a slow and sturdy beat and pillowy synths. A powerful song with or without the image of the film to support it." [9] Troy J. Augusto from Cash Box named it Pick of the Week, describing it as an "appropriately somber song," writing, "Written in the first person, this slow-moving ballad documents the struggle of a downtrodden and forgotten soul left to wander the dark streets, out of sight of an uncaring society. Like Hanks' character in the film, Springsteen's unfortunate draws on our sympathy, not because he asks for help but because he appears unable to help himself, an important distinction. One of The Boss’ best." [10] Kent Zimmerman from the Gavin Report concluded, "Bruce Springsteen's custom-written theme is as scary a portrait of AIDS as you're likely to hear all year long. Combining the gruesome fears of urban abandonment coupled with the tragedy of a fatal disease in just one song is surely a miracle of subtlety." [11] Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times deemed it "a moving ballad about a man whose body is being destroyed by AIDS", and "a work that shows Springsteen, despite all the questions raised by changes in his life in recent years, can still write purposeful songs that connect on a deeply emotional level." He added, "Springsteen sings in a voice that expresses the helplessness and heartache of someone dying of AIDS as convincingly as Springsteen once conveyed the dreams and aspirations of youth." [12]
In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton said, "However good it may be the brooding ballad is hardly classic Bruce and can be expected to shuttle rapidly out next week". [13] A reviewer from Music & Media commented, "The man who used to walk upon E-Street, now roams the Philly lanes. This synth-dominated track from the OST Philadelphia revives the "etherealism" of Tunnel Of Love ." [14] Stephen Dalton from NME wrote, "The Boss fights through eerie ambient mists and prowls in a buried, snaking backbeat as he pleads for human warmth in a freezing world. It's a heartbreaker, surpassing most of Brucie's recent chest-beating in its soulful understatement." [15] Neil Spencer from The Observer felt Springsteen's "sombre" "Streets of Philadelphia" "reflects a dark night of the soul as the disease takes hold". [16] Pete Stanton of Smash Hits gave the song four out of five, writing, "This is far gentler, far lovelier and far nicer than anything he's done for ages. Taken from the excellent film [...], this should see Bruce back in the charts." [17]
The accompanying music video for the song, directed by Jonathan Demme and his nephew Ted Demme in December 1993, 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. One newspaper review called it "the saddest track cut this decade". [7]
The vocal track for the video was recorded live with a hidden microphone, to a pre-recorded instrumental track. This technique, appropriate for emotionally intense songs for which conventional video lip-syncing would seem especially false, was used by John Mellencamp in part on his 1985 "Rain on the Scarecrow" video, and by Springsteen, in his 1987 "Brilliant Disguise" video, singing the song directly into the camera as he sits on the edge of his chair on a Sandy Hook, New Jersey sound stage. [18]
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.
Springsteen went on to perform the song only sparingly in his 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 Ghost of Tom Joad Tour between 1995 and 1997. After that, the song was performed only appearing a dozen times on the E Street Band Reunion Tour in 1999 and 2000. As of January 2016, the song has been played only a few times across the nine tours since then.
Award | Category | Result |
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Academy Awards [19] [3] | Best Original Song | Won |
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures | Won |
Golden Globe Awards [20] | Best Original Song | Won |
Grammy Awards [21] | Record of the Year | Nominated |
Song of the Year | Won | |
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance | Won | |
Best Rock Song | Won | |
Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television | Won | |
MTV Movie Awards | Best Song from a Movie | Nominated |
MTV Video Music Awards | Best Male Video | Nominated |
Best Video from a Film | Won |
The B-sides were selected from the previous year's live album In Concert/MTV Plugged .
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: [22]
Technical
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [70] | 3× Platinum | 210,000‡ |
Austria (IFPI Austria) [71] | Gold | 25,000* |
Brazil | — | 100,000 [72] |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [73] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [74] | Gold | 250,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [75] | Gold | 400,000 [76] |
Italy (FIMI) [77] | Platinum | 100,000‡ |
Norway (IFPI Norway) [78] | Gold | |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [79] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [80] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [81] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | February 11, 1994 |
| Columbia | [81] |
United Kingdom | March 7, 1994 | [82] |
The song has been covered live by Jack Folland, Tori Amos, Melissa Etheridge, David Gray, Waxahatchee and Lonely the Brave. 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. [83]
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. [84]
In 2009, it was covered by Luis Eduardo Aute in Catalan as "Els carrers de Philadelphia", for the CD of TV3's telethon La Marató . [85]
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. [86]
Fat White Family's Saul Adamczewski and Childhood (band)'s Ben Romans-Hopcraft, covered the song on their 2018 album, Karaoke for One: Vol 1, under the band name Insecure Men.
Waxahatchee covered the song in 2021 for the deluxe issue of her 2020 album Saint Cloud .
"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and first recorded by Harry Reser and His Orchestra. When it was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show in November 1934 it became a hit; within 24 hours, 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records were sold. The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and His Orchestra was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists including Mariah Carey, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, the Crystals, Neil Diamond, Fred Astaire, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Mitch Miller, Boxcar Willie, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, the Temptations, The Pointer Sisters, the Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Luis Miguel, Michael Bolton, and the Jackson 5.
American rock musician Bruce Springsteen has released 21 studio albums, 121 live albums, 77 singles, and 66 music videos. Widely referred to as "The Boss" by the media, Springsteen has sold over 150 million records worldwide, listing him among the best-selling music artists in history. Billboard ranked him as the 24th Greatest Artist of all time. According to Recording Industry Association of America, he has sold 65.5 million albums in the United States, making him the 7th best-selling male soloist of all time. Born in the U.S.A. remains the best-selling album of his career, selling more than 30 million copies around the world.
"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on his 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. A cover by British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1977 and was also a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada.
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.
"War" is a counterculture-era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – a self-evident anti-Vietnam War statement – with The Temptations as the original vocalists. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release "War" as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, with the label deciding to withhold the Temptations' version from single release so as not to alienate that group's more conservative fans. Starr's version of "War" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded. It was one of 161 songs on the no-play list issued by Clear Channel following the events of September 11, 2001.
"Because the Night" is a rock song from 1977 written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith that appears on the Patti Smith Group album Easter, which was released in 1978. On March 2, 1978, the song was released as a single, and was commercially successful, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 5 in the United Kingdom, which helped propel Easter to mainstream success.
"Nightshift" is a 1985 song by the Commodores and the title track from their album of the same name. The song was written by lead singer Walter Orange in collaboration with Dennis Lambert and Franne Golde as a tribute to soul/R&B singers Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, both of whom died in 1984. The song was released as the album's first single in January 1985 by Motown Records. "Nightshift" was recorded in 1984 and became the Commodores' first hit after Lionel Richie's departure from the group. Bruce Springsteen covered the song in his 2022 studio album, Only the Strong Survive.
"Born in the U.S.A." is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen and released in 1984 on the album of the same name as its opening track. One of Springsteen's best-known songs, it was ranked 275th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed the song 59th, remaining a favorite in classic rock. The song addresses the economic hardships of Vietnam veterans upon their return home, juxtaposed ironically against patriotic glorification of the nation's fighting forces.
"Fire" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen in 1977 which had its highest profile as a 1978 single release by the Pointer Sisters. The song was later released by Robert Gordon and Springsteen himself.
"Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number five.
"Dancing in the Dark" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the first single released ahead from his 1984 album, Born in the U.S.A., and became his biggest hit, helping the album become the best-selling album of his career.
"My Hometown" is a single by Bruce Springsteen off his Born in the U.S.A. album as its closing track, that was the then-record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #7 on the Cash Box Top 100 and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, making the song Springsteen's only #1 song on this chart to date. The song is a synthesizer-based, low-tempo number that features Springsteen on vocals.
"Cover Me" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the second single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.. Springsteen wrote the song for Donna Summer. However, his manager, Jon Landau, decided the song had hit potential, and so he kept it for the upcoming Springsteen album. It has been certified Gold in the US.
"Pink Cadillac" is a song by Bruce Springsteen released as the non-album B-side of "Dancing in the Dark" in 1984. The song received much airplay worldwide and appeared on the Billboard Top Tracks chart for 14 weeks, peaking at No. 27. The song was also a prominent concert number during Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. Tour.
"I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album Born in the U.S.A.
"Glory Days" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fifth single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.
"Brilliant Disguise" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 album Tunnel of Love. It was released as the first single from the album, reaching the No. 5 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the United States. The follow-up single, "Tunnel of Love", also reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, giving Springsteen two consecutive No. 1's. The single reached the top 10 in four additional countries including Canada and Ireland and the top 20 in Australia, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Brilliant Disguise" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1988 Grammy Awards.
"Human Touch" is a song recorded by the American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the first single from his tenth studio album of the same name and was released on March 9, 1992. The song features Randy Jackson on bass guitar, and Toto's Jeff Porcaro on drums. In the United States, the song reached number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100—charting as a double A-side single with "Better Days"—and topped the Mainstream Rock chart for three weeks.
"Secret Garden" is a song by American musician Bruce Springsteen. It was originally released as a single from his Greatest Hits album on February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. Upon its initial release, it peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two years later, after being featured on the soundtrack for the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, it was re-released as a two-track single, which featured a live version of "Thunder Road". This re-issue returned the song to the Hot 100, where it peaked at number 19 and remains Springsteen's final top-40 hit in the United States to date. It also charted on the Adult Top 40 and Top 40 Mainstream, peaking at number 12 and number 15 respectively.
"Having a Party" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, released on May 8, 1962, by RCA Victor. Produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged and conducted by René Hall, the song was the A-side to "Bring It On Home to Me". The song peaked at number four on Billboard's Hot R&B Sides chart, and also charted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.