Hey kids, fun piece about how Back to the Future's theme song came to be, and how it almost didn’t. A powerful reminder to check your gut instincts when creative or career choices arise. Ya never know what’s gonna stick, man. Follow your gut!
Huey Lewis performs in Clarkston, Mich., in 1984. | Ross Marino/Getty Images
The singer had doubts about writing a song for the movie ‘Back to the Future’—until inspiration hit him during a run
Adapted From WSJ (source) | By Marc Myers Feb. 12, 2020
By 1984, Huey Lewis and the News had eight Billboard pop hits but none cracked the top five. Then came an offer to write a theme for the movie “Back to the Future.” Mr. Lewis nearly passed.
He feared a song with that title would make the News sound retro and dated. So he went with “The Power of Love.” The single became a No. 1 Billboard pop hit in 1985 and was nominated for an Oscar.
Recently, the song’s co-writers—Mr. Lewis, guitarist Chris Hayes and guitarist/saxophonist Johnny Colla—looked back at making the hit. A new album from Huey Lewis and the News titled “Weather” (BMG) is due out Friday. Edited from interviews:
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in the 1985 movie ‘Back to the Future.’ | Photo: MCA/Universal Pictures/Everett Collection
Huey Lewis: When my manager, Bob Brown, and I met with the Amblin Entertainment team in Los Angeles in late 1984, they told us about a film they had just finished called “Back to the Future.”
They talked about the kid who was the lead character, Marty McFly, and said that if he had a favorite band, it would be Huey Lewis and the News. They asked me to write and record a song.
At first, I didn’t want to write a song called “Back to the Future.” The News wasn’t about looking backward. I also told them I had no idea how to write for a film.
“That’s OK,” they said. “We don’t care what you call it. We just want a Huey Lewis and the News song.” By then, we had a bunch of strong hits, including “I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “If This Is It.”
I said, “Let me have a think and I’ll send you the first new song we write.” They said, “Fine.” When I got back to my house in Santa Venetia, Calif., up in Marin County, I remembered the cassette demo our guitarist Chris Hayes had given me with his chord progression for a new song.
Huey Lewis and the News on a San Francisco cable car in 1984. Chris Hayes, far left, Johnny Colla in back, black jacket. | Photo: Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images
Chris Hayes: Whenever I had a song idea for the News, I’d sit in my home study in Petaluma and first try to find a good series of guitar chords.
I had an Akai MG1212 mixer/multitrack recorder combo unit. It didn’t create good-sounding demos, but it was good enough to get a song down on tape.
On this particular day, I created a verse by strumming a rhythm-guitar part. I monkeyed around and pounded on it until I came up with something that sounded cool. The melody and the rest fell together pretty quickly. My favorite part was the bridge. I’d always been a jazz player, so I came up with a series of jazz chords. I liked the bridge so much I used it twice in the song.
For the demo, I recorded two versions backed by a drum machine. The first was an instrumental and the second was the instrumental with me scatting so Huey would have the vocal melody. Then I dropped off the tape with Huey, who lived about 20 minutes away.
Mr. Lewis: Back home from L.A., I popped the tape into my Walkman and went for a run through nearby China Camp State Park on San Pablo Bay.
As I ran, I listened over and over, and thought back to the ’70s, when I was in the rock band Clover. Back then, I wrote songs with guitarist Alex Call. I somehow remembered him doing something with the phrase “the power of love.”
I was thinking of my family. I had married a year earlier and we had our first child, Kelly, in ’84. Austin was on the way. I was no longer a bachelor. The power of love keeps you home at night.
So I used that phrase as a springboard for the lyrics I came up with during my run listening to Chris’s melody:
“The power of love is a curious thing / Make one man weep, make another man sing / Change a heart to a little white dove / More than a feeling, that’s the power of love.”
The chorus needed to be catchy:
“Don’t need money, don’t take fame / Don’t need a credit card to ride this train / It’s strong and it’s sudden, and it’s cruel sometimes / But it might just save your life / That’s the power of love.”
I loved Chris’s bridge on the song. It had a completely different, relaxed feel, so it needed a sweeter lyric:
“They say that all in love is fair / Yeah, but you don’t care / But you know what to do / When it gets hold of you / And with a little help from above / You feel the power of love.”
Holding the words in my head until I got home to a pad and pen wasn’t hard. As a performer, I memorized lyrics for a living. Rock ’n’ roll songs are like haikus. They have certain boundaries.
At my house, I wrote out what I’d been singing over and over. I also sang the lines to get the phrasing right. Then I called Alex to ask if he had written a song called “The Power of Love.” Alex said, “No song, just the title.” I asked if I could use his title, and I gave him a percentage of the song.
Once my lyrics were set, I overdubbed a demo vocal on top of Chris’s instrumental and sent the tape down to Bob Zemeckis, the director of “Back to the Future,” for his reaction.
Johnny Colla: Bob felt the song wasn’t peppy enough. So Huey suggested that Chris get together with me, since I was the designated “finishing” guy on News songs.
I had an eight-track recorder in my extra bedroom in Novato, Calif. Chris came over and we listened to the demo tape, which had him playing these cool guitar chords in his riff . . .