Eddie Vedder, Sarah McLachlan, the Black Crowes and 14 other artists will deliver their takes on Beatles classics for the soundtrack to the Sean Penn drama “I Am Sam.”
The album, due January 8, also features Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Paul Westerberg, Nick Cave and Ben Harper, among others, according to a V2 Records spokesperson.
All of the covers were recorded for the soundtrack album and eight are featured in the movie, which stars Penn as Sam, a mentally handicapped father fighting to keep custody of his seven-year-old daughter, Lucy.
“I Am Sam,” due in theaters December 28, has several other references to the Beatles, including a courtroom scene where Sam compares himself and his daughter to the songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Vedder, a friend of Penn’s who contributed two tracks to his film “Dead Man Walking” in 1996, was one of the first artists to sign on for the soundtrack, recording “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” the spokesperson said.
The Wallflowers recorded “I’m Looking Through You” at a Santa Monica studio owned by Jackson Browne, who also sang on the track.
The first single from the album is still under consideration, the spokesperson said.
The “I Am Sam” Track List, According To V2:
- Sarah McLachlan – “Blackbird”
- Aimee Mann and Michael Penn – “Two of Us”
- The Wallflowers – “I’m Looking Through You”
- Rufus Wainwright – “Across the Universe”
- Ben Harper – “Strawberry Fields Forever”
- Eddie Vedder – “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”
- The Black Crowes – “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”
- Ben Folds – “Golden Slumbers”
- Paul Westerberg – “Nowhere Man”
- Nick Cave – “Let It Be”
- Stereophonics – “Don’t Let Me Down”
- Heather Nova – “We Can Work It Out”
- The Vines – “I’m Only Sleeping”
- Howie Day – “Help!”
- Grandaddy – “Revolution”
- Chocolate Genius – “Julia”
