Streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen

I come from Pennsylvania, like my brother Jeff, but Jeff has lived more of his life in Florida than he has here. He likes it there, doesn’t mind the heat and humidity. In fact, he thinks it’s too cold here and wears a flannel shirt when he visits PA, even in the summer. I lived in Indiana a few years and have travelled around a bit. Unlike Jeff, my least favorite places are the hot and humid ones. Give me a brisk breeze out of the northwest and I will be most happy.

Where I live in the Keystone State is kind of midway between the larger metropolises of Philly and Pittsburg, and much more sparse in population than the Northeastern areas of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. But I have some connections to Philadelphia beyond just being within the same state boarders. I have loved and lost in Philadelphia, and the wonderful person I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life went to school there. I enjoy visiting and not just the historic areas.

I don’t know if the song owed its popularity to the 1993 Tom Hanks movie called Philadelphia, or to the smooth voice of the Boss, but it got so much air play and main stream popularity even at a time when the topic of the song and the movie was not necessarily as favorable in the wider “culture wars.” Have you ever really listened to the lyrics? It’s not just about a guy who is down and out in Philly.

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
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
A thousand miles just to slip this skin

The 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?

Sure, a good work of art applies to more than just one thing and this can be interpreted more broadly. But given these lyrics and the topic of the movie, this song is about a gay man “wasting away” from AIDS and being rejected by society: “So receive me brother with your faithless kiss.” Maybe sometimes it’s just easier to let a good sounding song play in the background without thinking about it what its lyrics say I guess. In fact, the cynic in me believes that our habit of only half listening helped contribute to the songs popularity in the early 90’s more than a general love for gay men with HIV.

Sorry to get so heavy. While the global severity of AIDS is thought to have peaked around ’97, it’s still a world wide health concern and has never been limited to one sexuality. I just think it’s important to recognize the progress that has been made in education, research, and public understanding, but to also remember those we lost, like my friend Dennis, especially at a time when some chose to make a health issue a political and moral issue instead and refused to deal with or recognize the crisis until tens and tens of thousands of people died. Let’s not make that mistake again. Please.

In Your Love by Tyler Childers

Love Songs by People Named Tyler, Part Four

Taylor Swift not only crashed the Super Bowl, she recently crashed Tyler Childers’ table at the Grammy’s. Apparently, by the time she arrived, all the numbers had been removed from the tables and people didn’t know where to sit. She was nominated for six Grammy’s and walked away with two that night, and though Tyler was not a winner, he did have the honor of being nominated five times this year.

While the focus has been on Swift and Kelce at the Super Bowl this week, the love story I want to tell is in this video that Tyler Childers released six months ago for his song “In Your Love.” Childers has gained a reputation in country music for not only pushing back against “sh*tty country music,” but also for standing up against racism and discrimination of all sorts. In this case, Childers decided he wanted the music video to highlight a rural love story that isn’t usually represented in the genre.

In August, the Rolling Stone talked to author Silas House, who wrote the storyline for the video:

“He said he would like to have it be a gay love story, mainly because his first cousin who’s like a brother to him is gay, and he wanted him to see himself in a country music video,” House tells Rolling Stone. “When he said that, I just thought, ‘So many other people have never seen themselves in a country music video. This would be pretty incredible, to have that kind of representation.’”

You may recognize actor Tyler Haynes from TV shows like Arrow and Teen Wolf, and you may know James Scully from the recent series You. Scully and Haynes play the lead parts in the music video, and I have to say I was really moved when my son Micah sent this to me this past fall.

Whatever your story is, loving another or, as my mother preached to me, learning to love yourself, I hope you have a beautiful Valentine’s Day, and I hope you enjoy the music with Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps. If you do, please consider liking and sharing this. I’d love to be able to tell my brother that he’s got even more viewers, listeners, and readers on Jeff’s Song of the Day.

Time (Clock of the Heart) and Bloom

I was 15 years old in the spring of 1983 when Culture Club released today’s song of the day in the United States. It peaked at number 3 on the pop charts overseas and then at number 2 here in the US, right behind “Flash Dance.” What the heck I was doing that spring, I don’t recall, but if this photo is any indication, I’d say I was working on my 80’s hair and trying to get into Teen Idol magazine.

While I’m not sure if Culture Club ever made it onto the cover Teen Idol, you can go to eBay and bid on this really cool centerfold photo of them from an unnamed 80’s fan zine.

In a slightly different Two-for-Tuesday feature, I also want to share some newer music from a young pop star from down under. Australia’s Troye Sivan has been rising to stardom in the US recently, but he’s been YouTube star back home since he was a young teenager (he’s 28 now). He even starred in his own Prime Video movie in 2022.

Today is the last of a short series of “warmer weather,” 80’s tunes. “Time” fits the theme only loosely but helps lead us into the 2000’s for the rest of the week, including today’s bonus track. “Bloom,” the title song from Sivan’s second studio album, can definitely be associated with spring, birds and the bees and all that. He was 22 when he made this video.

In 2018 the New York Times said:

Hip-swinging pretty boys in eye makeup are nothing new; they’ve been singing on television since Elvis on Ed Sullivan. But Mr. Sivan is a creature of our time: a self-possessed, on-his-own-terms heartthrob, gay and untroubled, with the commercial sheen of a Disney star and the charisma of a boy prince.

As NYT goes on to say, the difference between gay pop stars of the 80’s, like Boy George and George Michael, and those of today, like Sivan, is that while their sexuality may have been assumed or guessed at back then, these days, it’s less frequently hidden. And for Sivan, it’s both upfront and “besides the point.” It’s taken nearly forty years to get here, and it’s a shame that for some, being open about who you are is still met with judgement and shame.