AceShowbiz -

Purely for the love of soccer, singer Bruce Springsteen gave up the right to his song "Growin' Up" which was taken from his 1973 album "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." to a movie maker. The song will be used in a pivotal scene of the movie "Gracie".

Director Davis Guggenheim who is married to actress Elisabeth Shue is grateful that the singer agreed to give the song since it was his plan all along and that it was already included in the movie's rough cut version. "I've been to maybe 10 Bruce Springsteen concerts and never believed we would the rights for anything."

Springsteen meanwhile, easily handed the song since he is an avid fan of soccer who has two daughters playing the sport and is happy that the flick is shot in his hometown, New Jersey.

"He just thought the song was perfect," Guggenheim continued. " I don't think any amount of money would convince him to give up a song if he didn't want to. It was all about representing what that song represents. The song was a gift. We didn't pay a lot of money. He believes in the state of New Jersey and he believes in our movie."

Set in 1978 and inspired by real life events in the Shue family, "Gracie" is the story of a sixteen year-old girl who, after a family tragedy changed her life, fought for and won the right for girls everywhere to play competitive team soccer.