Once upon a time, amazing human being* Bruce Springsteen read the Harry Potter books to his children, and J.K. Rowling’s work inspired him to write a song for the first movie.
Long story short, producers of the film series ended up giving Bruce a “no, thanks,” and the Harry Potter song went into the rock artist’s vaults.
The song, which is titled “I’ll Stand By You Always” (prophetic, by the way — Bruce used the word “Always” before it was iconic-ly used in Deathly Hallows), has sat in a vault for close to two decades. It’s been a tease to Bruce fans, because the artist often plays a wide variety of outtakes at his concerts or releases them on albums down the road.
But not the Harry Potter song. That damn thing has sat under lock and key. Its lack of release has tortured Springsteen/Potter fans like me.
Until now… sort of.
How to listen to Bruce Springsteen’s Harry Potter song
The Bruce Springsteen fansite Backstreets recently discovered that the song is on file at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. It likely sits there because Bruce trademarked the song when he offered it to Harry Potter film producers, and then to Marc Anthony in October 2001 (who had it on his album Mended, then cut it before release).
According to the writer at Backstreets, who went to the Library of Congress to hear “I’ll Stand By You Always” and two other lost Springsteen songs, the Harry Potter tune is “a beautiful little ballad, clearly from the perspective of a parent singing lovingly to a child.”
“The track features piano, synthesizer, and a simple, metronomic drum part. Bruce contributes more multi-tracked falsetto backing vocals, too. There are no specific Potter scenarios in the lyrics, a few ghosts and goblins appearing in a nightmare notwithstanding, but the telling of stories of heroes fighting evil, in order to assuage and comfort a child’s fears and insecurities, is a theme embedded throughout.”
This is the first time Bruce Springsteen fans have heard details about the Harry Potter song. It received renewed attention last year when he was asked about the song as he promoted his new autobiography Born to Run.
“It was pretty good, it was a song I wrote for my eldest son, it was a big ballad that was very uncharacteristic of something I’d sing myself,” Bruce said of the song last year. “But it was something that I thought would have fit lovely [in the Harry Potter movie]. At some point I’d like to get it into a children’s movie of some sort, because it was a pretty lovely song.”
Getting into the Library of Congress and listening to their archives takes a few steps (and opening up your wallet), but Shawn at Backstreets outlines what you have to do.
I’m still hopeful that Bruce will get the song out there. If not in a movie, I’d love to see it on an outtakes album similar to Tracks.
*I’m obsessed with him.
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