The Harry Potter Song (When Love Gives All)

This was the first wizard rock song I ever wrote. "Songs about Harry Potter?" I remember thinking. "I can do that." To me, sacrificial love and its victory over death—perhaps because it's such a huge part of my faith—is the clearest and most beautiful of the themes in Harry Potter. Lily is a hero to me, as is Harry, for the pure, wholehearted, loving bravery they showed. James deserves a fair share of credit for that, too. This song was an attempt to capture some of that ideal into music.

Cut for a scar on Halloween night when in flashes of green light
In a moment of desperate choice they gave themselves to save you
So you lived in the grip of unyielding fate, of a destiny far too cruel to wait
But protected by mysteries that power alone could never break through

(Chorus):
What will evil dare—will it recall
That it can't succeed when love gives all
And when you see with Lily's eyes
Oh, such love never dies

Known by that scar to everyone
The world watched you become your father's son
And with your mother's heart evil could not possess you
Fight to the death with so much unknown
Trying to make your soul your own
To learn at last that when you love enough to lay down your life
You don't love alone

(Chorus)

You went to meet your end but you survived to fight again
With such love to give your friends how can you help but win

(Chorus)
And when you see with Lily's eyes
Oh, such love never dies

Several Sunlit Days

I have to confess that this song plays two roles. It tells Ginny's experience of her first kiss with Harry—and my experience of my first kiss with my Louis. They were not dissimilar experiences, though ours was not in front of a room full of people. It would have been fun, though, to have been playing Quidditch all afternoon beforehand.

Never in all of my memory can I recall such a perfect moment
All of my senses are reeling in wonder right now
My arms finally around you—can you feel the thrill of my heart
It's just one blessed kiss, but oh, in its sweetness I know
This is our start

(Chorus):
Several sunlit days of glory are shining down on me right now
All at once my dearest dreams coming over me—
I've been waiting, it's finally you and me now

Breathing—oh, but just barely, I don't want to move
It might shatter this dream and this joy like a thousand birds singing
It's unreal, or so it seems
Your arms finally around me and your lips pressing to mine
It's been so worth the waiting a thousand times over
I'm yours for all time

(Chorus)

I tried to keep my heart open
But I couldn't give up hoping for you

(Chorus)

Stronger than Magic

Of all of the songs on the CD, this has to be my favorite. I hit a style of music that I happen to particularly like but that I have a hard time achieving because my country roots keep getting in the way. The song itself is about the love between Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny; the four of them live so closely to my heart that I forget they're not real sometimes.

The different loves shared by Harry, Ron and Hermione, by Ron and Hermione, and by Harry and Ginny are tough and tender and beautiful. I get completely caught up in it all every time I pick up one of the books.

One long journey to share
Apparating to nowhere
Trust your history
Know what friendship can be

He will go but come back another day
Baptize you through the ice along the way
Loyalty will keep her by you
You have only to confide and to depend
It's stronger than magic, this love between friends

Friend of all friends the best
Oh, but fearful hearts know no rest
Jealous feelings tore him apart
Your truth and hers will give him back his heart

She loves him with her desire
You a brother, he her only fire
You will find an honest pleasure
As your two best friends together comprehend
It's stronger than magic, this love between friends

His only sister close to you for a season
Separated by some stupid, noble reason
One final kiss, one chance to memorize
That steady soul and those big brown eyes

She could always bring you round to smile
Now you both ache at each dividing mile
But go ahead where your quest may take you
For the joy of her love awaits you at the end
It's stronger than magic, this love
This love between friends

Every Christmastime

John Noe (from Pottercast) is entirely to blame for this song. Normally, I write all my own music as well as lyrics, but he suggested last year in preparation for the Christmas Filk show—which I don't think they ever actually put out—that we all take our favorite Britney Spears song and make it a Harry Potter Christmas song. I could have left well enough alone if he hadn't brought up Britney Spears. But he did, and this song—to the tune of "Everytime"—is the result.

Red and green in my world so changed
This holiday is feeling so strange without you here
Why fight this war without me

(Chorus):
Every Christmastime you were around
Left memories that haunt me now
I guess I miss you, Harry
And every Christmastime in future years
Don't leave me wishing you were here
I guess I miss you, Harry

I'm unafraid—I could fight beside you
But Celestina plays and I wonder where this night hides you
But back at school with the D.A. I still fight for you

(Chorus)

No festive songs and games, no butterbeer
At times I hear your name, and it burns in me 'cause you're not here

Under Christmas lights I pray you're safe somewhere tonight

(Chorus)

James and Lily

The tale of James and Lily is such a sweet, poignant, lovely one. This song touches some of my favorite scenes in the whole Harry Potter saga—Erised, in book 1, and The Forest Again, in book 7. Having seen the whole story through Harry's eyes, as Rowling wrote it, I cherish every little snippet (other than Snape's worst memory) that we get of Harry's parents.

James and Lily sat in school
She playing coy, he playing it cool
He'd mess up his hair and trace her name
Someday she would love him the same

James and Lily joined their lives
And Harry's got his daddy's black hair and his mother's green eyes
They never wanted to leave him alone
But to protect his life they'd each give their own

(Chorus):
Memories in a leather-bound book—from old pictures they smile and wave
Their legacy the Boy Who Lived and the truth written over their grave
James and Lily taught their son the power of sacrifice
And Harry will destroy his enemy by the love that gives life

James and Lily's son is out of bed
Staring longingly into Erised
Lonely boy on a midnight quest
But he's got to keep moving for his heart to rest

(Chorus)

James and Lily in a forest glen
Meet their son with their two best friends
"We're so proud." "You've been so brave"
He'll give his life—but will he take the grave

James and Lily wait past the end
Where someday they'll meet their grandchildren

(Chorus)

After the Battle

There were three women at the end of the final battle whose hearts, it seemed to me, would be going out to Harry. I did not include Hermione, despite her being perhaps my favorite character and despite her faithful sisterly love for Harry, because I thought that at the day's end her mind and heart would have been more with Ron, her attention less divided than it could have been in months.

Molly would have been grieving her son, but she had also loved Harry as her own, shown him the only mothering he could remember, and I think she would have wanted to go comfort him before the end of the day. Ginny, of course, with emotions stunned and whirling—and probably caught up in the suspense of waiting—would yet have had a full heart for him.

And "from the other side of the veil," Lily's love could not have decreased. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. The powerful compassion of these women just overwhelmed me in writing and singing this song. I do love being a woman.

Sunrise—hundreds of people around you
Everyone wants to get near you, their hero
You're weary with relief and sorrow
But it'll all be there tomorrow, as will you
It's safe to close your eyes

And sleep—sleep a day and night, and wake to summer like you've never known
And life, unhindered by the fight is ready for you
Make yourself at home

Sleep dreamless—leave those nightmares behind you
They can no longer threaten you or your loved ones
Sleep deeply, with the undisturbed rest
Of someone who's given their best and been victorious
You're free to close your eyes

And sleep soundly through the night and wake to summer like you've never known
And life, unhindered by the fight is ready for you
Make yourself at home

Breathe in, breathe out, rest
Breathe in, breathe out, rest

And sleep—sleep a day and night, and wake to summer like you've never known
And life, unhindered by the fight is ready for you
Make yourself at home
Life, unhindered by the fight, is ready for you
Make yourself at home

Hush now, Harry, don't you cry; Ginny's gonna sing you a lullaby
Hush now, Harry, don't you cry; Molly's gonna sing you a lullaby
Hush now, Harry, don't you cry; Lily's gonna sing you a lullaby

Tell Me a Story

My mom once made me stop reading novels for three months as a teenager, which probably saved me from having no real life at all. But even now, while I have a life outside fiction, the best tales stay with me, turning over and over in my mind, calling out the best things in me.

No work of fiction does this better than Harry Potter. These stories put life and love and good and evil back into perspective for me at the end of the hardest time in my life. The characters feel like friends—who remind me to go love my real friends. And when I look at myself I look for a little bit of Lily or Hermione or Harry or Albus or Dobby or Ginny—a flare of courage, a keeping of humor even in dark moments, the strength to grow and maintain that fierce loyalty to truth and goodness and love and hope.

They remind me of that twisted, broken figure who died with arms outstretched, protecting and loving me—the one who was much more than just a man—the one whom I adore and hope never to disgrace. Perhaps you love Harry Potter from your perspective as a Jew or a pagan or an agnostic or ____ … I have known those that do, and you are my friends and I love you too. I hope you will understand when I say I love Harry from my perspective as a Christian. It comes from the very center of who I am.

For everything that these stories have meant to me, then—hours of entertainment and growth and passion and healing—I thought J.K. Rowling deserved her own song of thanks. She may never hear it, but it is hers. To Jo Rowling, then, and to all who tell sweet enchanting tales that give forth joy and truth.

Pleasant dreams … awake to mystery
The thought of bigger things than you or me
Timeless words upon these pages
One child learns to be courageous

Tell me a tale of magic
Carry me away into a land where anything can happen
Anything at all
Tell me a story, lay adventure like a road before me
Capture me in glory and the wonder of it all

Show me a hero pure of heart and mind
Brave and loyal, just and kind
May his ways remind me of this truth
That there is good and there is evil and we've all got to choose

Tell me a tale of magic
Carry me away into a land where anything can happen
Anything at all
Tell me a story, lay adventure like a road before me
Capture me in glory and the wonder of it all

Through a child's eyes
This broken place becomes a world again, touched by grace
From wand and phoenix song to crown and cross and dove
You helped me find my faith and hope, and above all, love

Tell me a tale of magic
Carry me away into a land where anything can happen
Anything at all
Tell me a story, lay adventure like a road before me
Capture me in glory and the wonder of it all