Eddie Vedder celebrates Joe Strummer's 70th birthday with Mescaleros cover

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getty_eddievedder630_081922

Gus Stewart/Redferns

Eddie Vedder has released a cover of “Long Shadow,” a song by late Clash icon Joe Strummer and his backing band The Mescaleros.

The Pearl Jam frontman recorded the track in honor of what would have been Strummer’s 70th birthday this Sunday, August 21.

The original “Long Shadow” was included on the 2003 Mescaleros album Streetcore, which was released a year after Strummer’s death in 2002.

“I just think that what Joe did with The Mescaleros and those records, and those songs, and those words, it was a very communal sound,” Vedder says. “I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community.”

You can watch Vedder’s “Long Shadow” performance streaming now on YouTube.

As previously reported, in commemoration of Strummer’s milestone birthday, a box set collecting all of his work with The Mescaleros will be released on September 16.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years features remastered versions of the group’s three studio albums — 1999’s Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, 2001’s Global a Go-Go and Streetcore — as well as a disc titled Vibes Compass that boasts 15 rare and previously unreleased tracks.

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