The Director's Reaction To the Potter Song

CONFUNDUS! CHRIS COLUMBUS ON "I'LL STAND BY YOU"
Sorcerer's Stone director receives an "amazing, heartbreakingly beautiful song" from Springsteen — and is unable to use it
November 18, 2016

Bruce Springsteen recently talked for the first time about "I'll Stand By You," a rumored but largely uncirculated song he had written and offered for the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, in 2001. A few days ago, as we reported, Potter producer David Heyman told a bit more of the story. According to Heyman, Sorcerer's Stone director Chris Columbus is a "huge fan" of Bruce and wound up writing "a 12-page letter explaining and apologizing for not including" the unsolicited track.
We wondered what the director might possibly have to say over 12 pages to Springsteen — but we didn't have to wonder long, as we soon heard from Chris Columbus himself. After seeing the news on Backstreets.com he dropped us a line "to set the record straight" and fill us in: on the inspiration that Springsteen has been to his career, on trying to "will that song into the final credits," and on "I'll Stand By You" itself, which Columbus calls an "amazing, heartbreakingly beautiful song."



Fifteen years ago, on November 16, 2001, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone was released. Being in a bit of a nostalgic mood, I checked into Backstreets (which I do every day, sometimes two or three times a day). I saw the interview with David Heyman and wanted to respond to it. David got most of the facts right, but there is a little more detail that I wanted to share with you guys.

As a kid who grew up in an Ohio factory town, my future looked pretty bleak. Both of my parents were factory workers, and it certainly looked like that might be my future as well. I developed a love of film in high school and was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to NYU film school. At first, I was out of my element at NYU. I didn't have a tremendous amount of confidence and felt intimidated by many of the other, more sophisticated students. There were several times I thought about leaving school and moving back to Ohio. Just didn't think I could cut it.

Then the summer of '78 happened. I picked up a copy of Darkness on the Edge of Town. I listened to it all night long. It spoke to me. The same way it spoke to millions of other listeners. But I took this music personally. It felt like a challenge.

That summer, during the night shift at Alcan Aluminum where I worked, I'd hide from my snoozing boss between gigantic racks of aluminum. And there, I wrote my first screenplay. I got back to NYU in the fall, showed the script to my professor who passed it on to his agent. The agent took me on as a client and, within three weeks, managed to sell the script to MGM. I suddenly had a career. I suddenly had a future. All because of one Bruce Springsteen record. All because of Darkness.

I never forgot that. As I spent the next decades working in the film industry, and seeing a hundred-plus Bruce shows, I wrote, directed, and produced countless films where I wanted to use Bruce's music. But we usually didn't have the budget, or we were turned down by the record company. Thankfully, I struck up a close friendship with Steve Van Zandt, who wrote many great songs for my films. And I was lucky enough to feature Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes in my first film, Adventures in Babysitting.

But I always dreamed that at some point, somewhere along the way, there would be a Bruce song in one of my films.

We were in post-production on Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone when I got a call from an executive at Warner Bros. He said, "You're not going to believe this. But someone... someone really huge... I mean, a big, big superstar, has written a song for your film." I asked, "Who?" thinking that because of the extremely British nature of the film, it was probably someone like Sting or Paul McCartney. The executive said, "Bruce Springsteen."

My fucking heart leaped into my throat. Here was my chance, my opportunity to finally have a Bruce song in one of my films. The next day, the Bruce CD arrived at Leavesdon studios. I tore open the Fed Ex envelope, ran into my office, and closed the door. I needed to hear this first, I needed to hear this alone. I looked at the title on the CD: "I'll Stand By You." Already, a classic title. I placed the CD into my boombox and hit play.

My first reaction was sheer joy. "I'll Stand By You" was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard, one the most elegant and emotional songs that Bruce had ever written. I played it over and over. I drove home and played it for my wife and kids. They all loved the song. I went to sleep that night thinking, "My dream has finally come true."


- image via springsteenlyrics.com, which explains that in addition to being sent to the Sorcerer's Stone producers, the track was "exclusively given out on an in-house promo CD-R to some very few top executives at Columbia Records" in 2001.

The next day, on the mixing stage, I asked the editors to put up the final reel of Sorcerer's Stone. This song deserved a great place in the film, and I was determined to play it over the end credits, as the Hogwarts Express takes Harry, Hermione, and Ron back to their families. Within a few minutes, the song was synched up with the final credits.

We played the reel. We played it again and again. I probably viewed that reel for the next four hours, creating a sense of anxiety and over-budgetary fears into the hearts of my producers. I wanted that song to work. I wanted to fucking will that song into the final credits. But there was one issue.

The first 130 minutes of the first Harry Potter film were intensely, deeply British. Every single actor who appeared in the film was British, their dialogue culled more from the British versions of the book than from the edited American versions (things like "jumper" were replaced by "sweater" in the American versions). The sets were historically British. And John Williams' roaring score was also, in its heart, extraordinarily British.

Bruce's amazing, heartbreakingly beautiful song slightly shifted the mood of the film from England to back across the pond. Back to America. It would be the first time in our film where we would not hear a British voice. Also, complicating matters... John Williams had already written a full eight minutes of an orchestral piece to end the film. I would have to face the Maestro and tell him that I was planning to cut his eight-minute symphony. This certainly would have sent John running for the hills, ending our working relationship forever. Had I done that, John would definitely not have scored the subsequent two Potter films.

I was fucking devastated. I'd waited over 25 years for a Bruce song. And finally, I received one of the best songs he'd ever written. And I couldn't use it.

I was lost, depressed, and truly, truly upset. I did the only thing I felt I could do. I decided to write to Bruce, to explain what had happened. So I started writing... and writing... and twelve pages later, I finished what was part apology, part explanation, part historical journey of my own personal relationship with Bruce and his music.

Bruce wrote back to me a few weeks later, saying he understood and may even take up my offer for him and the family to come visit the Harry Potter 2 set. That unfortunately never materialized. But as you would expect with Bruce, he was incredibly gracious and understanding and made me feel a whole lot better with one line: "You gotta do what's right for your movie." Of course Bruce would care about what's in the heart of the artist.

Over the years, I've had the great opportunity to meet Bruce several times. We never discuss the song. It never comes up. But deep in my heart, I feel I still owe him one. I still feel I owe him something, for setting me on a path that led to my beautiful career, and for giving me a future.

I hope that someday, someday soon, Bruce will release "I'll Stand By You." It deserves to be heard. It truly is a classic, timeless piece of music.

Harry Potter Song.. I'll Stand By You Always

You meet me in the night
With tears falling down
Come let me dry them for you
I wish I could tell a story
Chase away all those ghosts
You got inside of you
A story of heroes who fight on at any cost
Of a kingdom of love
To be won or lost
We'll fight here together
'til victory is won
Come take my hand 'til morning comes
Just close your eyes

[Chorus]
I'll stand by you always, always, always
I'll stand by you always, always, always

[Verse 2]
I know that here in the dark
Tomorrow can seem so very far away
Here the ghosts and the goblins
Can rise from your dreams
To steal your heart away
Together we'll chase those thieves
That won't leave you alone
Out from under the bed
Out from over our home
And when the light comes we'll laugh, my love
At the things that the night
Had us so frightened of
And until then

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Now I know it can feel like you're slipping away
At night you'll get lost in that deep dark place
We'll let the night come and do what it may
Together we'll find the courage, we'll find faith
Until you awake

[Chorus]

[Post-Chorus]
I'll stand by you always
I'll stand by you always

[Chorus]

[Outro]
I'll stand by you always, always, always
I'll stand by you always, always, always

Springsteen, Sophie, and the Movies

In an interview with Dave Marsh, Bruce has told of an evening he spent with a fan during his stay in St Louis. In the interview Springsteen states that he was in Denver, but it appears that his memory was faulty.
"The other night I went out, I went driving, we were in Denver [St. Louis]. Got a car and went out, drove all around. Went to the movies by myself, walked in, got my popcorn. This guy comes up to me, real nice guy. He says, "Listen, you want to sit with me and my sister?" I said, "All right." So we watch the movie (laughs). It was great, too, because it was that Woody Allen movie – [Stardust Memories, released to theatres on September 26, 1980], the guy's slammin' to his fans. And I'm sittin" there and this poor kid says, "Jesus, I don't know what to say to ya. Is this the way it is? Is that how you feel?" I said, "No, I don't feel like that so much." And he had the amazing courage to come up to me at the end of the movie, and ask if I'd go home and meet his mother and father. I said, "What time is it?" It was 11 o'clock, so I said, "Well OK."
So I go home with him; he lives out in some suburb. So we get over to the house and here's his mother and father, laying out on the couch, watching TV and reading the paper. He brings me in and he says, "Hey I got Bruce Springsteen here." And they don't believe him. So he pulls me over, and he says, "This is Bruce Springsteen." "Aw, g'wan," they say. So he runs in his room and brings out an album and he holds it up to my face. And his mother [the infamous "Sophie", who Bruce dedicated "Twist And Shout" to several times, at the top of his lungs, at the August 23, 2008 St. Louis show] says (breathlessly) "Ohhh yeah!" She starts yelling "Yeah," she starts screaming.
And for two hours I was in this kid's house, talking with these people, they were really nice, they cooked me up all this food, watermelon, and the guy gave me a ride home a few hours later.
I felt so good that night. Because here are these strange people I didn't know, they take you in their house, treat you fantastic and this kid was real nice, they were real nice. That is something that can happen to me that can't happen to most people And when it does happen, it's fantastic. You get somebody's whole life in three hours. You get their parents, you get their sister, you get their family life, in three hours. And I went back to that hotel and felt really good because I thought, "Wow (almost whispering), what a thing to be able to do. What an experience to be able to have, to be able to step into some stranger's life."

The 2015 Christmas Miracle

On Christmas Day 2015, we had a high of 82 here in Deer Park!! I recall my kids were out of town with their Mom. I decided to take advantage of beautiful weather and played Disc Golf! On the course, a kid around 15 years old, was playing behind me. He was alone. I waited for him on a hole and we joined up together and played the course. On Hole 8, it goes behind some homes and curves left, under a tree. The kid took a shot at the tree. It began to move left and I said, "That's a great shot... that's close!" BAM!!!! The disc hit the basket for a Hole-in-One!!!!!!

He turned and looked at me and yelled, "I hit it!"

I witnessed the Christmas miracle of 2015.

Bruce best FIRE... 1986

Bridge School Lineup I, Oct. 13, 1986

“I have been to quite a few of the Bridge shows, but nothing beats the first one. First, not knowing what to expect was one thing, but the lineup was just incredible! Don Henley, Tom Petty, a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion, Robin Williams and Bruce Springsteen. Back then, no one did acoustic sets like they do now."

The Henley set started with great version of ‘Boys of Summer’ and included ‘New Kid in Town’ with J.D. Souther. Petty played a strong set. CSN&Y reunited for only their second show in 14 years. Springsteen was awesome.

Best version of FIRE ever done. He had planned another song first, but as he walked out changed his mind and started with FIRE.