10 Cover Versions That Are Absolute Masterpieces
6. With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker)
Before finding commercial success with this version of a Beatles classic, Joe Cocker was a little known singer from Sheffield, UK. He had been doing the rounds on the music scene for most of the 1960s and already had a failed record contract under his belt.
Radically different from The Beatles original, Cocker changed the beat and the tempo for his rendition, even changing the chords in the middle eight. Beginning with an organ heavy introduction with Jimmy Page playing lead guitar the result was a slower, more expressive track in stark contrast to the playful, pop melody of the original.
On hearing Cocker’s interpretation Paul McCartney was blown away. He was so impressed that he sent a telegraph to Cocker to congratulate him. The Beatles even placed an ad in the music papers praising the song.
It went to number one in the UK singles chart and in 1969 Cocker performed the song live at Woodstock. It was on that stage, drenched in sweat, that Cocker cemented his reputation as a live performer with the song being included in the documentary film of the festival.
It soon became an anthem for the counterculture movement and gained even more fame years later when it was used as the theme song for the television series The Wonder Years