In 1973, Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, neither of which earned him a large audience. He changed his style and reached worldwide popularity with Born to Run in 1975. It was followed by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), which topped the US Billboard 200 chart. After the solo recording, Nebraska (1982), he reunited with the E Street Band for Born in the U.S.A. (1984), his most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums of all time. Seven of its singles reached the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen recorded his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992) using mostly session musicians. He reassembled the E Street Band for 1995's Greatest Hits, then recorded the sparse acoustic The Ghost of Tom Joad, followed by the EP Blood Brothers (1996), his last release of the decade.
Springsteen dedicated his 2002 album The Rising to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), followed by two more albums with the E Street Band: Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). The next two, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. His latest releases include the solo Western Stars (2019), the E Street Band-featuring Letter to You (2020) and a solo cover album Only the Strong Survive (2022). When Letter to You went to No.2 in the US, Springsteen became the first artist to score a Top Five hit across six consecutive decades.
Among the album era's prominent acts, Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and more than 71 million in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award (for Springsteen on Broadway). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016. He ranked 23rd on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Artists of All Time, which described him as being "the embodiment of rock & roll".
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen
Studio albums
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973)
Born to Run (1975)
Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
The River (1980)
Nebraska (1982)
Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
Tunnel of Love (1987)
Human Touch (1992)
Lucky Town (1992)
The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)
The Rising (2002)
Devils & Dust (2005)
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006)
Magic (2007)
Working on a Dream (2009)
Wrecking Ball (2012)
High Hopes (2014)
Western Stars (2019)
Letter to You (2020)
Only the Strong Survive (2022)
Streets of Philadelphia
Bruce Springsteen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
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 walk
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?
Streets of Philadelphia is a song by Bruce Springsteen written for the 1993 movie Philadelphia, which starred Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. The song, which went on to win an Academy Award, is heart-wrenching and melancholic, perfectly capturing the feelings of despair and loneliness of the movie's protagonist, who is battling AIDS.
The opening stanza "I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt, I was unrecognizable to myself" is perhaps the most poignant part, as it speaks to the physical and emotional toll of the disease on the singer. He is no longer the person he once was, and it's as if he's looking into a mirror and not recognizing the face that stares back at him. The line "Oh brother, are you gonna leave me wastin' away on the streets of Philadelphia?" is a plea for help, a cry for someone to be there for him.
As the song continues, we get a glimpse into the singer's life on the streets of Philadelphia. He is alone and isolated, with only memories of friends who have passed on to keep him company. The line "And my clothes don't fit me no more, I walk thousand miles just to slip this skin" speaks to his desire to escape his current reality, to shed his sick body and start anew. But there's no escaping the loneliness that plagues him, as he pleads with his brother to either help him or be with him in his final moments.
Line by Line Meaning
I was bruised and battered
I had been physically and emotionally beaten down.
I couldn't tell what I felt
I was so beaten down that I couldn't identify my emotions.
I was unrecognizable to myself
I didn't recognize who I had become.
Saw my reflection in a window
I caught a glimpse of myself in a window.
And didn't know my own face
But I didn't recognize the person looking back at me.
Oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin' away
I'm asking my brother if he is going to abandon me to suffer alone.
On the streets of Philadelphia?
In the harsh, unforgiving environment of the city.
I walked the avenue, 'til my legs felt like stone
I walked for so long that my legs grew tired and heavy.
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
I could hear the voices of friends who were no longer around.
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
In the quiet of the night, I became very aware of the sound of the blood flowing through my veins.
Just as black and whispering as the rain
The sound was as dark and melancholy as the pouring rain.
On the streets of Philadelphia
In the unforgiving and unfriendly cityscape.
Ain't no angel gonna greet me
I wasn't expecting any sort of divine intervention or assistance.
It's just you and I my friend
It would just be my friend and me, facing the struggles together.
And my clothes don't fit me no more, I walk
I had been worn down so much that even my clothing didn't fit me properly.
Thousand miles just to slip this skin
I felt like I needed to escape and start anew, even if that meant traveling far away.
Night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake
The darkness of night had descended, and I was wide awake.
I can feel myself fading away
I could feel myself losing hope and giving up.
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
I was reaching out to my brother, even if I didn't expect him to have much faith in me.
Or will we leave each other alone like this
I was fearing that we would abandon each other to suffer and struggle in loneliness.
On the streets of Philadelphia?
In this harsh, lonely cityscape.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Bruce Springsteen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind