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"Mickey (Rourke) and I went to Giants Stadium to see a show, and the next thing you know we were backstage. Then Mickey says, 'You guys have business to talk about,' " recalls "The Wrestler" director. "Then Bruce picks up his guitar, flips through his notebook and starts playing."

Aronofsky was convinced.

"It was amazing," the helmer says after hearing the song, which Aronofsky slotted after the film ends but before the end credits roll. "When I heard the poetry, I knew I wanted to use the song."

Rourke, who has been friends with Springsteen for 23 years, reached out to the rocker, asking him if he'd write a song for the movie.

Springsteen won an Oscar in 1994 for the haunting "Streets of Philadelphia" and was nominated two years later for "Dead Man Walking."

Writing about men of despair and desolation is nothing new to the New Jersey native.

Lyrics, which include the passage, "Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street? If you've ever seen a one-legged dog, then you've seen me," fit right in with the film's vision of a broken-down athlete who is cast adrift after leaving his chosen profession and struggles with a life without fan adulation