LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MAY 1, 2020…FIFTY ONE YEARS AGO JOE COCKER RELEASED THE EPIC ALBUM ‘WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS.’ THIS WAS COCKER’S DEBUT ALBUM IN AMERICA. THE TITLE TRACK WAS WRITTEN BY PAUL MCCARTNEY AND JOHN LENNON AND APPEARED ON THE BEATLES ALBUM ‘SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND’ BUT THE BEATLES NEVER RELEASED IT AS A SINGLE. THE BEATLES WERE SO IMPRESSED WITH COCKER’S RENDITION HEY SENT HIM A TELEGRAM OF CONGRATULATIONS AND PLACED AN AD IN THE MUSIC TRADE PAPERS PRAISING COCKER’S VERSION. COCKER’S ‘‘WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS’ HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE GRAMMY AWARD HALL OF FAME AND THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME. WHEN COCKER DIED IN 2014 AT THE AGE OF 70, PAUL MCCARTNEY ISSUED THIS STATEMENT REGARDING COCKER’S VERSION OF HIS SONG: “It was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem, and I was forever grateful for him for having done that.”
HERES COCKER WITH HIS LEGENDARY PERFORMANCE OF ‘WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS’ AT WOODSTOCK