Andre 3000 will cover The Beatles and Muddy Waters for Jimi Hendrix biopic

Andre 3000 IS Jimi Hendrix...just not his music. 

The Jimi Hendrix biopic now titled "All Is By My Side" will feature Outkast rapper Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000) as the legendary guitarist, but it won't feature any of Hendrix's signature songs.

Instead, the film will include Benjamin's brand new renditions of cover songs that were favored by Hendrix, including tunes by the Beatles, Chicago bluesman Muddy Waters and more, according to Rolling Stone. 

The Hendrix estate, which controls the rights to the singer-guitarist's catalog, didn't authorize the film and therefore won't allow his songs to appear.

Among the songs Benjamin will perform are the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," The Troggs' "Wild Thing," Waters' "Mannish Boy" and Elmore James' "Bleeding Heart."

Two songs by Curtis Knight and the Squires will also make an appearance. Early in his career, Hendrix acted as a backup guitarist for the band.  

Hendrix also often covered Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" and, famously, Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," although neither of those songs are likely to appear. 

But what's a movie about Hendrix without "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady" or  "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"?

"They want to make a Jimi Hendrix movie without Jimi Hendrix music," the Hendrix estate told RS. "It would be like making a movie about Lincoln without being able to use the Gettysburg Address."

"All Is By My Side" chronicles the guitarist's early days in London in 1966 and 1967, when his band The Experience first came together. 

The film is currently shooting in Ireland.

 

Dave Lewis
Producer

• Follow

Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.