Dylan, Costello, Others Appear On Upcoming Coen Bros. Soundtrack

The Mercury Records soundtrack to Ethan and Joel Coen's new movie The Big Lebowski is a genre-jarring compilation of tracks featuring artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Kenny Rogers with the First Edition to Gipsy Kings to Elvis Costello, who penned a new song for the release, due Feb. 10.

Costello's involvement with the project happened by chance; he was in New York in mid-October and had breakfast with pal T Bone Burnett, who is serving as musical supervisor on "Lebowski." Burnett invited Costello to join him at a meeting with the filmmakers that afternoon, and "I went from meeting with them to working with them in 20 minutes," Costello says.

The song, "My Mood Swings," which will accompany a critical bowling scene in the film, is described by Costello as "just a rock 'n' roll song, not any more or less than that." "Lebowski" hits theaters in February.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter