WATCH: Eddie Vedder Honors Joe Strummer's Birthday With 'Long Shadow' Cover

Joe Strummer would have turned 70 years old on Sunday (August 21), and to celebrate the occasion Eddie Vedder shared a cover of "Long Shadow" from the posthumous Strummer and the Mescaleros album Streetcore.

In the video, Vedder plays a solo, acoustic rendition of the song and then burns his handwritten lyric sheet. “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,” he says at the end of the clip. “I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community.”

The late Clash frontman played an integral part in getting Pearl Jam together, if by accident. Vedder and Strummer met by chance at a San Diego club in 1989. At the time, former Red Hot Chili Peppers member Jack Irons was Strummer's touring drummer. He and Vedder became friends and Irons later passed along an instrumental demo tape that was made in Seattle by former Mother Love Bone members. Vedder recorded vocals on top of the tracks and just days later he was in Seattle making music with the people who would become his Pearl Jam bandmates.

Strummer passed away on December 22, 2002 after suffering a heart attack. He was 50 years old.

This article was first published on iheart.com