Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. | The Wild, Innocent & E Street Shuffle | Born To Run | Darkness On The Edge Of Town | The River | Nebraska | Born In The U.S.A. | Tunnel Of Love | Human Touch | Lucky Town | Greatest Hits | The Ghost Of Tom Joad | Tracks | The Rising | The Essential | Devils & Dust | We Shall Overcome | Magic | Working On A Dream | The Promise | Wrecking Ball | High Hopes | The Ties That Bind | Chapter And Verse | Western Stars | Letter To You | Only The Strong Survive | Best Of
Early Band Years | Collaborations | Soundtracks
Overview
Through Bruce's entire career he has written some songs specifically for a movie. Some have a major role in the movie, others are only played over the film's closing credits.
Here we try to present a full historical overview of the soundtrack songs. We exclude those songs that were written for one of his own records, but were allowed to be used in a movie. None of them necessarily have to be released on a record.
Details
Song Title | Running Time | Release |
---|
ADDICTED TO ROMANCE | 3:06 | OST: SHECAMETOME | 2023 single |
Note: Bruce Springsteen and The National's Bryce Dessner collaborated to create "Addicted To Romance" for the Rebecca Miller film She Came To Me. Miller loves Bruce's music, and wanted an original song for the end of the film: "I had a secret wish it might be Bruce, but I was reluctant to ask because I felt it was so unlikely, and frankly I was a bit shy." Dessner, who worked on the film’s score, encouraged Miller to approach Springsteen. Springsteen, inspired by the film, wrote and performed "Addicted To Romance" and Dessner orchestrated the song.
BLUES GUITAR RIFF (HIGH FIDELITY) | mm:ss | OST: HIGHFIDELITY |
Note: A short instrumental written by Bruce Springsteen for the Stephen Frears 2000 film High Fidelity. The small snippet seen/heard in the movie may only be part of the song. Although the song is copyrighted mentioning "Words & Music", it is unknown if the song actually has lyrics.
DEAD MAN WALKIN' | 2:43 | OST: DEADMAN / ESSENTIAL: BONUS / 1995 single |
Note: Written in spring 1995 upon request of friend and director Tim Robbins for his movie Dead Man Walking. First released on December 30, 1995 on the film's soundtrack CD and then as a single in early 1996 in some countries. Recorded sometime April–May 1995 at Thrill Hill West (Bruce's Los Angeles home studio). Springsteen handles guitar and vocals and his three-man backing band on this recording is Danny Federici (keyboards), Jim Hanson (bass), and Gary Mallaber (drums).
FREEDOM CADENCE | 9:00 | OST: THANKYOU |
Note: Freedom Cadence is Produced by Ron Aniello and Bruce Springsteen, Coordination by Toby Scott. It is recorded in 2017 by Robert Lebret and Ron Aniello at Stone Hill Studio and mixed at Mix This! by Bob Clearmountain.
I'LL STAND BY YOU ALWAYS - V1 | 5:32 | SA |
SONG FOR HARRY POTTER - V2a | 5:32 | cdr ep |
I'LL STAND BY YOU ALWAYS - V2b | 5:29 | O&S |
I'LL STAND BY YOU - V2c | 4:35 | BLINDED: OST |
Note: A ballad written by Springsteen sometime between 1998 and 2000, inspired by reading the Harry Potter books to his youngest son Sam. This is not a children's song, however. Sometime in early 2001, Bruce made the song available to director Chris Columbus, who at the time was shooting the first of the Potter movies. However, the Springsteen song was ultimately rejected due to Harry Potter novelist/creator JK Rowling's contractual stipulation that no commercial songs of any type be used in the Potter film series. Warner Brothers Music President Gary Lemel, who was involved in the Potter music, was asked for comment by USA Today, but said he preferred not to comment publicly – but in doing so seemingly verified the basic truth in the story. In September or October 2001, Springsteen donated the song to fellow Sony artist (and Latin/salsa star) Marc Anthony, who recorded a cover version. In late 2001 both Sony and Anthony issued press releases specifically promoting the Springsteen composition and mentioning it would be one of the tracks on Anthony's forthcoming album Mended (and likely the lead single off the album). Strangely, when the Mended album was finally released in April 2002, the song was not on the album, nor was it issued as a single. A later special edition of Mended with bonus tracks also didn't include the song. There has been no explanation as to why the Springsteen composition was not issued.
V1 is from early 2001, a rough demo version with very few lyrics written. However, Bruce finished them quickly, and recorded the completed studio version V2a on January 28, 2001 in the studio next to his Rumson home. The studio version was exclusively given out on an in-house promo CD-R to some very few top executives at Columbia Records. The CD-R was burned on October 31, 2001, right around the time when the track was being offered up to the Harry Potter producers, about a week before the Live In New York City DVD was released. The CD-R contains three tracks: "Song For Harry Potter", "My Hometown (Live)", and "This Hard Land (Live)". V2b is the probably the same studio recording, copyrighted on June 13, 2001 and apparently donated to the Harry Potter movie. This version uses a similar base track, but the lyrics are completed. It leaked on February 10, 2017.
In late 2018, Ron Aniello added overdubs and effects to the base recording. It was mixed by Bob Clearmountain on February 19, 2019 at Stone Hill Studio, Colts Neck, NJ, specifically for the Blinded by The Light soundtrack album, and released August 9, 2019. V2c is actually the same as V2b, but fades out 50 seconds earlier, features more backing vocals, and the mix is slightly different. It was produced by Ron Aniello and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Aniello is also credited as engineer and mixing engineer, Toby Scott is credited as engineer (2001), and Rob Lebret is credited as engineer and mixing engineer.
JUST AROUND THE CORNER TO THE LIGHT OF DAY | uncirculating |
Note: Studio take of "Light Of Day" was recorded at The Hit Factory on May 25, 1983 under the title "Just Around The Corner To The Light Of Day" but never considered for Born In The U.S.A. and never bootlegged
The story of this song has it's genesis in 1981, when screenwriter/director Paul Schrader asked Springsteen to write a song for his upcoming film about struggling rock musicians, titled Born In The U.S.A. Bruce declined and instead took Schrader's title, transforming a song he had in the pipeline, "Vietnam", into perhaps his biggest hit, "Born In The U.S.A.". Fast forward four years – in 1985, when Schrader received the go-ahead to make the film, he couldn't use his working title because by that point it had become too closely associated with Springsteen. Schrader again asked Bruce for a song and Bruce donated "Just Around The Corner To The Light Of Day" – which Schrader loved so much that he re-copyrighted his screenplay in 1985 under the new title Just Around The Corner To The Light Of Day. In 1986 when the film was being shot, both the movie and song titles were shortened to "Light Of Day". It had never been intended that Springsteen's recording would be used in the film. The song was recorded by the film's stars, Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox ("The Barbusters"), and released concurrently with the movie in February 1987. The Barbusters first performed the song live at a nightclub appearance in mid-1986, while Springsteen first performed the song live on April 12, 1987. A 1992 live version was officially released on MTV Unplugged. In 2001 Springsteen said of the song: "It's so basic that you can do anything with it. Start it. Stop It. Do all kinds of routines inside it. It's one of those all-purpose pieces of music." For this reason "Light Of Day" was the main set closer across two tours - the 1992/93 World Tour and the 1999/2000 Reunion Tour.
LIFT ME UP | 5:16 | OST: LIMBO / ESSENTIAL: BONUS |
Note: Recorded at Thrill Hill East (Bruce's New Jersey home studio) in March 1999. Produced by Springsteen (alone). Bruce handles vocals and all instruments. Written by Bruce specifically for the John Sayles movie Limbo and first released on the movie soundtrack album in June 1999.
MISSING - V1a | 5:06 | 1995 single / 1999 b-side |
MISSING - V1b | 5:06 | ESSENTIAL: BONUS / DDITV |
Note: Recorded in April 1994 at a rented house in Los Angeles after Springsteen was forced to relocate his home studio following the January 1994 Northridge earthquake. Produced by Springsteen (no co-producer) and recorded by Toby Scott; Bruce handles all vocals and instruments. Springsteen didn't write "Missing" with a film in mind – he played the recording for actor/director Sean Penn in late 1994 and Penn asked if he could use it in a film he was directing, which turned out to be the November 1995 movie The Crossing Guard. First issued on the movie soundtrack in November 1995 and then as a Springsteen single in some countries in early 1996. V1a and V1b are slightly different mixes of the same recording. The versions circulated on bootlegs have about a minute total cut at the beginning and end of the track but are from an identical recording and mix to the official release.
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1a | 4:13 | uncirculating |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1b | 4:11 | BACK / ASOBS / OST: PHILADELHPIA |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1c | 3:49 | 1994 single |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1d | 3:17 | GREATEST / ESSENTIAL / BESTOF |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1e | 2:53 | DDITV / 1994 b-side |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1f | 4:13 | promo-only cd |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V1g | 3:43 | TOTP video mix |
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA - V2 | uncirculating |
Note: Written in mid-1993 and registered at the U.S. Copyright office on August 27, 1993. Released on December 30, 1993, as part of the Philadelphia soundtrack, then issued as a single in the U.S. on February 2, 1994. However, this is a song with a complex recording and release history. All recordings were co-produced by Springsteen and Chuck Plotkin.
The base track, V1a, was recorded during August 1993 at Bellevue Studios (the house next to the residence) at Thrill Hill Recording, 40 Bellevue, Rumson, New Jersey. Springsteen was on vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer, and drum machine. V1b added background vocals and bass by Tommy Sims, and in December would become the album soundtrack version. V1c, the single mix, only adds Sims's vocals to V1a, and is trimmed to under four minutes. V1d is a significantly edited (one minute shorter) version of V1b, mixed for Greatest Hits, released on February 28, 1995. V1e is the version used for the commercially released video – it is the same base recording as V1b except that it features an alternate ("live") Springsteen vocal. V1f was released as a promotion-only single in the UK and Austria and this is allegedly yet another slightly different mix of V1b. V1g is the audio released as part of a black-and-white video shot in early 1994 at CBS TV Soundstage studios in New York and originally broadcast on the UK TV show Top Of The Pops. It is alleged this is yet another slight, but unique, mix variation.
V2 is a different recording of the song made in October 1993, apparently at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. It features Bruce on lead vocal, instrumentation provided by Springsteen and jazz virtuoso Ornette Coleman, bass and background vocals by Tommy Sims, and additional background vocals by Little Jimmy Scott. V2 was allegedly scheduled to be the officially released version up to early December 1993, when it was nixed at the last second, even after the song's video (which featured Little Jimmy extensively) was shot. The video had to be re-shot. A brief snippet of V2 (including the tell-tale vocals of Little Jimmy Scott) is actually heard about halfway through the movie (but it's V1b that is heard in the opening sequence of the movie).
THE WRESTLER - V1a | 3:50 | OST: WRESTLER / DREAM / ESSENTIAL: 2015 / BESTOF / 2008 single |
THE WRESTLER - V1b | 5:20 | promo CD |
Note: Written at the request of Mickey Rourke for his film The Wrestler, debuted August 2008 at the Venice International Film Festival. Features Springsteen on all instruments. V1a is the version included on the Working On A Dream album, released as a single December 16, 2008. V1b is on a US-only 1-track promotional CDR in slimline jewel case without artwork, issued exclusively to Academy Award voters by film distributors "Fox Searchlight Pictures" for consideration in the "Best Original Song" category. This rare disc exclusively contains the full, unedited 5:20 version with longer intro and intact piano coda, which was omitted for the song's widespread release as a "bonus track" on the album. Some copies feature a misprint of "For Your Consiceration".
Disclaimer | © 1996 - 2025 | Brucebase