Yee haw! It’s not Cox if he says it doesn’t taste like Cox. The soundtrack to “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ” is coming out December 4.
According to music supervisor and composer Mike Andrews (“Donnie Darko,” “Me & You & Everyone We Know,“) – who we spoke to a few weeks back – John C.Reilly sings on all the songs on the album and the full list of songwriters who contributed songs include Dan Bern and Candy Butchers frontman Mike Viola, renowned Beach Boys Smile-era lyricist, producer/musician Van Dyke Parks, Marshall Crenshaw, Antonio Ortiz, and L.A. folk-rocker Charlie Wadhams
“The funniest thing to me is that the music in the movie is really good,” said Judd Apatow. “Sure, all the songs are slightly off, slightly wrong, but it’s all great-sounding music. I think that’s part of what makes the movie fun – you can get into it, even though it’s ridiculous.”
Having already worked with Apatow and ‘Walk Hard’ director Jake Kasdan on “Freaks & Geeks” and “Undeclared” (not to mention Kasdan’s “The TV Set” and “Orange County“) Mike Andrews was the first person the filmmakers and writers enlisted.”We knew he would be composing the score and supervising all of the songwriting with us as well as writing songs himself. We cast a wide net and a lot of cool people sent in versions right away,” Apatow said.
Viola and Bern wrote the brunt of the film’s songs. Viola contributed “Big Daddy,” “A Life Without You is Like No Life At All,” and “Darling” (the last co-written with John C. Reilly), while Bern wrote “There’s A Change A’ Happenin’,” “Hole in My Pants,” “Farmer Glickstein,” “Hey Mr. Old Guy,” and “Royal Jelly.” The duo shared songwriting duties on “Dear Mr. President” and the movie’s finale, “Beautiful Ride.”
Marshall Crenshaw wrote the title track “Walk Hard” ( performed in the film during a lifetime achievement award for Dewey Cox that is sung by Lyle Lovett, Ghostface, Jewel, Ghostface Killah and Jackson Browne). The track “Black Sheep” was written by Andrews and Parks, Wadhams contributed “Let’s Duet” (co-written with Benji Hughes) and “Guilty As Charged” (with Gus Seyffert), and Antonio Ortiz penned Dewey’s first performance song, “Take My Hand.” And lastly, Reilly, co-wrote the affectionately titled, “Mama, You Gots to Love Your Negro Man” with Michael Andrews.
But wait, over 40 songs were written according to Andrews and a double disc Box Of Cox was originally planned, what’s up with that? No word on that one yet, but we’re assuming the simple version hits stores first and then the extravaganza disc comes out a little later for the die-hards (and probably depending on how well the movie and original disc does we bet). As Apatow noted not even all the songs they wrote will make the movie.
“By the end, it was like a little mini Brill Building,” Jake Kasdan said. “We were all in the studio together for several months, recording about 40 songs.
John C. Reilly worked and recorded with the songwriters and Andrews on the songs 6-months prior to shooting which made him all the more prepared for the role. He said there were, “so many great tunes coming out of this friendly, creative competition. Michael Andrews was a great leader in the studio. And whenever we recorded a new song, Jake was there to guide it. When it came time to actually film the movie, we were off to the races.”
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story tracklist
1. Walk Hard
2. Take My Hand
3. (Mama) You Got To Love Your Negro Man
4. Life Without You, A (Is No Life At All)
5. Let’s Duet
6. Darling
7. (I Hate You) Big Daddy
8. Guilty As Charged
9. Dear Mr. President
10. Let Me Hold You (Little Man)
11. Royal Jelly
12. Black Sheep
13. Starman
14. Beautiful Ride
15. (Have You Heard The News) Dewey Cox Died