When it comes to young adult book series-turned-highly profitable movie franchise, Harry Potter is superior to Twilight in every respect — acting, directing, lighting, craft services — but one. Bella, Edward, and Jacob listened to better music than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Sorry, John Williams, but no self-respecting moody teenager would pick your scores over Paramore, St. Vincent, Florence + the Machine, Sia, and Thom Yorke. There are only a handful of songs with lyrics in Harry Potter — “Do the Hippogriff” by the Weird Sisters in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and “O Children” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 — while Twilight is wall-to-wall with a surprisingly strong selection of tunes.
The scales could have been slightly tipped Harry Potter‘s way if a song the legendary Bruce Springsteen wrote for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone made the cut. But “I’ll Stand By You Always” was left out of the film. “It was a song that I wrote for my eldest son, it was a big ballad that was very uncharacteristic of something I’d sing myself,” he said. “But it was something that I thought would have fit lovely; at some point I’d like to get it into a children’s movie of some sort because it was a pretty lovely song.”
Springsteen made those comments last year, before “I’ll Stand By You Always” was available. It’s finally been released online, so you can judge the “lovely” claim for yourself below. (I find it a little syrup-y, and the lyrics have nothing to do with Harry Potter, but maybe I’m upset the Boss hasn’t recorded a song called “Luna Don’t Love Good,” which is the most Springsteen title ever.)
https://soundcloud.com/sims89-1/12-ill-stand-by-you-always-2001-demo
(Via the AV Club)
