How To Hear Those 'Ricki & The Flash' Songs

If you want the perfect soundtrack to wind down the last full month of summer, look no further than the rock and pop album known as the Ricki and the Flash soundtrack. And yes, Hollywood Goddess Meryl Streep does all of her own vocals. Why would you think any different? The Academy Award-winning actor sang in Mamma Mia! and in Into The Woods. Plus, she is Meryl Streep — she can do anything. But after seeing the movie, you'll probably want to hear her rockin' and rollin' voice on repeat in your playlist. So where can you buy the Ricki and the Flash soundtrack?

Lucky for you, the album will be available on August 7 in digital form — and for you old fashioned folks, you can get it in CD form, as well. You can purchase the soundtrack on iTunes or Amazon, and you can listen to "Drift Away" on its own along with one of the movie's original songs, "Cold One," on Spotify. An acoustic version of the song is performed by Streep in the movie during one of the movie's more "relaxed" scenes. And by "relaxed," I mean everyone in the scene just smoked a bunch of pot.

There's a little bit of something for everyone on the Ricki and the Flash soundtrack. If you're in the mood for a song that's more of a classic, dig your ears into "American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. If you're craving for something a bit more contemporary, then you can enjoy Meryl Streep singing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" alongside "Jessie's Girl" Rick Springfield (yes, it's as magical as it sounds). Then there is the trophy performance of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" — which you will probably be singing days after you watch the movie.

Streep actually learned to play guitar for the film, so there are no stunt players throughout the movie. It's 100 percent Streep, because, let's face it, Streep is the most talented actor on the face of the universe. In a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she disclosed that her very first guitar lesson was with rock legend Neil Young. Now if that's not the perfect person to get a lesson from, I don't know who is.

The song "Cold One" will certainly be the movie's signature song — and I'm sure it will be on an awards ballot for Best Original Song come Oscar season, too. The song is probably so good because it was written by Rilo Kiley members Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice. They also wrote seven original songs for the movie Song One starring Anne Hathaway, so they aren't strangers when it comes to writing good music for movies.

In an interview with Radio.com, Lewis revealed that she drew from her relationship with her mother, who was a Vegas lounge act in the '70s, to write "Cold One." She also sat down with Queen Streep to get more insight into the character of Ricki. The result is a very memorable song that is equal parts Ricki, Jenny and Jonathan.

After listening to the Ricki and the Flash soundtrack, you'll be begging for Meryl Streep to go on an in-character club tour.

Image: Sony Pictures