Bruce Springsteen reveals why his Oscar for ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ was ‘fluke’

WASHINGTON: Legendary singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has described his Academy Award win for ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ as ‘a fluke’, reflecting on the song’s unexpected journey during an appearance at the Tribeca Festival.

Springsteen made the remarks at the Storytellers event, where he was honoured with the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award and took part in a conversation with longtime friend Bono, as per People magazine.

Looking back on his Oscar-winning contribution to the 1993 film ‘Philadelphia,’ Springsteen said the success of the song came about in an unlikely way. “It really was because Jonathan Demme called me up and said, ‘I need a rock song for the movie I just made.’ And he told me a little bit about the film, and he sent me just an opening two minutes or so of it,” Springsteen recalled, as quoted by People magazine.

The Grammy-winning musician said he initially tried to write a rock song for the film but struggled to make it work. “I tried to write him a rock song when I just couldn’t. So I went next door, and I had a little synthesizer and a little drum machine and [in] a couple of days I wrote the song,” he said, as quoted by People magazine.

Bruce Springsteen reflected on the surprising success of his Oscar-winning song “Streets of Philadelphia” during a recent Tribeca Festival appearance.

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Springsteen added that he was unsure how director Jonathan Demme would respond to the track when he sent it over. “I sent it to him and he roughed it into the film, and then I sent him a real version, and he threw that out and kept the rough version that I sent him, and then we won the Oscar,” Springsteen said, as quoted by People magazine.

Released in 1993, ‘Philadelphia’ starred Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. The legal drama followed Andrew Beckett, played by Hanks, who sought the help of attorney Joe Miller, portrayed by Washington, in a lawsuit against his former employer after allegedly being dismissed because he was gay and had AIDS.

During the discussion, Bono praised Springsteen for being “an activist” throughout his career and highlighted his involvement with ‘Philadelphia.’ Reflecting on the experience, Springsteen credited Demme and the circumstances surrounding the project.

“It was really one of those things. If you do good things, good things happen. So Jonathan Demme, who is deeply missed and was a wonderful, wonderful man, incredible filmmaker, kind of invited me into his film and I guess we lucked out,” he said, as quoted by People magazine. ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ went on to become one of Springsteen’s most celebrated songs.

Along with winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song, it also earned multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Song and Record of the Year, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and an MTV Movie Award for Best Song from a Film. (ANI)