Musical Montage: Bruce Springsteen “Streets of Philadelphia”
A movie that definitely fits the idea of an “Oscar Movie” is 1993’s Philadelphia, which earned a Best Actor win for Tom Hanks and a win for Bruce Springsteen for the movie’s primary single, “Streets of Philadelphia.” Approached to write a song by director Jonathan Demme, Springsteen wrote it following his 1992-1993 World Tour in August 1993, which was recorded in October 1993. Philadelphia came out in late December of 1993, but the single wasn’t released until February 1994. The song became a hit, peaking at #9 on the Billboard charts. Strangely, for a song so specific to a US city, the song was also massive in Europe, hitting #1 in countries like Germany, Ireland, France, and more. Jonathan Demme shot the music video for the song, which features Springsteen walking along desolate-looking city streets along with clips from the movie and shots of actual Philadelphians. Tom Hanks has a cameo during the final verse of the song in the video. You can check it out below.
