The mystery of the missing U.S. soundtrack to the Lennon-inspired 'Nowhere Boy'

There had been one in the UK. In fact, the UK version was a double disc set. But the physical CD set never made it here. Our inquiries about this got no response. (You can buy it through third-party sellers on Amazon.com. It's also available directly through Amazon.co.uk.)

 

The first disc had several tracks taken from the film, including remakes of "In Spite of All the Danger" and "Hello, Little Girl," but it was filled out with vintage tracks that were used in the film or inspired by it. The artists included Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats ("Rocket 88," said to be the first rock 'n' roll record), Wanda Jackson ("Hard Headed Woman"), Big Mama Thornton ("Hound Dog") and Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps ("Be Bop-A-Lula").

 

The second disc was all vintage tracks, and some great ones, too: Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law" (mono, not the stereo version that sometime used), Vince Taylor and his Playboys with "Brand New Cadillac," Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" and Barrett Strong's original version of "Money (That's What I Want)" later covered by the Beatles.

 

You can find a "Nowhere Boy" soundtrack on iTunes, but it's only the first disc with 18 tracks, including the alternate version of John Lennon's "Mother" Yoko Ono authorized for the film. The second disc isn't there, though we suspect most if not all the tracks, given that they're vintage tracks, are available if you want to buy them separately.

 

Here's the listing of tracks on the two-disc set. Tracks by the Nowhere Boys and Aaron Johnson were made for the film: 

 

Disc 1 (Original sound track):

• Wild One (Jerry Lee Lewis)
• Mr Sandman (Dickie Valentine)
• Rocket 88 (Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats)
• Shake, Rattle & Roll (Elvis Presley)
• Hard Headed Woman (Wanda Jackson)
• I Put A Spell On You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins)
• Maggie May (The Nowhere Boys)
• That'll Be The Day (The Nowhere Boys)
• Rockin' Daddy (Eddie Bond & The Stompers)
• Twenty Flight Rock (Eddie Cochran)
• That's Alright Mama (The Nowhere Boys)
• Raunchy (The Nowhere Boys)
• Movin' and Groovin' (The Nowhere Boys)
• Hound Dog (Big Mama Thornton)
• Be-Bop-A-Lula (Gene Vincent And The Blue Caps)
• Hello Little Girl (Aaron Johnson)
• In Spite Of All The Danger (The Nowhere Boys)
• Mother (John Lennon)

Disc 2 (Music inspired by, final listing):

• Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry)
• Rock Around The Clock (Bill Haley & His Comets)
• Rip It Up (Little Richard)
• Baby, Let's Play House (Elvis Presley) (This is a later version, not the Sun recording.)
• Peggy Sue (Buddy Holly)
• Party Doll (Buddy Knox)
• I Fought The Law (Bobby Fuller Four)
• Brand New Cadillac (Vince Taylor & His Playboys)
• Susie-Q (Dale Hawkins)
• Let The Good Times Roll (Shirley & Lee)
• Money (That's What I Want) (Barrett Strong)
• Ain't That A Shame (Fats Domino)
• Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price)
• These Dangerous Years (Frankie Vaughan)
• Come Go With Me (The Del-Vikings)  

In short, this is a great set, even if you ignore the tracks from the film. If you want the two-CD physical CD set, as we noted above, it's available from third-party sellers on Amazon.com at reasonable prices.