Songs Of Innocence And Experience

How 5 writers found the music to convey their films’ tragedy, injustice, patriotism and love

A Wonderful Example of ‘What the World Loves About America’

- Melinda Newman

When composer J. Ralph first screened Jim: The James Foley Story for Sting on Thanksgiving Day 2015 — in hopes of drafting the musical icon to write a song for the wrenching HBO documentary — things didn’t go as planned. Devastated after watching the film, which tells the story of a photojournalist beheaded by ISIS in Syria in 2014, “My first reaction was: I can’t write a song about this,” says Sting. But he had an epiphany later that night and “The Empty Chair,” a poignant ballad with music by Ralph and lyrics by Sting, was born. The artists, who knew each other through a mutual friend, tightwire artist Philippe Petit (the subject of the 2008 documentary Man on Wire and the 2015 feature The Walk), have five Oscar nominated songs between them but never had worked together before. Seated side by side on a sofa at L.A.’s Sunset Marquis nearly a year later, they talked about their collaboration and how Foley continues to inspire them.

After watching the documentary, you asked director Brian Oakes for a transcription of the letter that Jim wrote his family, which is read aloud at the end of the film. Why did you ask for that?