Thursday, December 07, 2023

just as black and whispering as the rain

howdy pop pickers


a truth, if specific to moi rather than of the universal nature, would be that i probably have far, far, far too many tapes (discs). such things, or more specifically the vibes on them, are my passion, my hobby and the thing what i love the most. which has likely made the procurement of such quite the addiction, look you see. indeed there are (considerably) worse things to be addicted to. 

going off and purchasing the exact same tape (disc) what i have is something that happens more than you might thing. every now and then such is for valid reasons, be it to have a copy in my vehicle as i travel about, or perhaps to gift to someone. or replace a gift some time later. none of which would appear to immediately apply to my decision to obtain a second (2nd) copy of the CD single of Streets Of Philadelphia off of Bruce Springsteen. 


indeed i did purchase this at the time, which i think is (very) close to 30 years ago. wow. the 90s were three decades ago? that cannot be true, for if it is that has implications for my beloved 80s. no matter. i have it, somewhere, in one of those "cardboard sleeves" that it came in. having not seen it in what some may well call a "proper" box, i thought yeah, go on. especially as it was in a charity shop and it cost me all of 30p. 

the song itself, as in the main track on the tape (disc), remains just as brilliant, powerful and spectacular as it did at the time. pretty sure Bruce, The Boss, got an Oscar for it. and why not. generally Oscars bestowed on songs off of films are fuss free, except for the one time they gave it to that gender free f***wit for that hideous Bond song. yet that was not the reason for wishing to pick it up again, so as to have a copy at hand that i did not have to dig through (ahem) several boxes to find. 


hidden away (track three) on this single is a truly superb live rendition of Growin' Up, which i am pretty sure was on Bruce's first album but i discovered by a cover of it off of David Bowie. this live recording was off of his (in)famous MTV Unplugged, or if you will Plugged, session, where he decided that he did not like the acoustic sound so just went full tilt regular electric for the show. for some reason this particular number (Growin' Up) didn't appear on the subsequent album released, and buying this single was the only way to get it. 

unlikely i would ever watch Philadelphia again, for the precise reason i would probably not willingly watch, say, Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence once more. every now and then a film perfectly strikes the message it wishes to send in such a traumatic, harrowing way that one could not really put themselves through it all again. or perhaps i am just being soft. no matter, let it be known that i would most decidedly listen to the song off it as many times as you care to ask. and, of course, the live take of Growin' Up found here. 




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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