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As has recently happened to several other musical legends of the seventies, Joe Cocker passed away at the threshold of old age without managing to cross it, and perhaps enjoy it; excessive drinking and repeated intake of other unhealthy substances finally took their toll at the age of seventy, after all not too few given the subject. On the other hand, heavily drugged and notorious drinkers like Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, and many others are instead succeeding in the difficult task of becoming truly old... so good for them and peace to the soul of poor Joe.
It can be said that Cocker owes most of his fame and success essentially to his contributions to a couple of epochal films (participations lasting no more than ten to twelve minutes in total!), namely “9½ Weeks” and “Woodstock”. Regarding the first film, it refers obviously to the pulsating cover of Randy Newman's “You Can Leave Your Hat On”, enjoyable at full volume on the soundtrack in the scene featuring Kim Basinger stripping for the exclusive benefit of her boyfriend Rourke, in a fairly soft sexy situation, but still epoch-making.
The second magical and immensely fortunate moment for Cocker not only involves music but also sees his person physically present: I am referring even more intuitively to his participation in the 1969 Woodstock Festival and the inclusion in the eponymous film of his remarkable Beatles cover performance. The studio version of the cover had been released a few months earlier on an eponymously titled album, ultimately his recording debut. The original brilliant McCartney nursery rhyme, entrusted to the modest but friendly voice of its drummer Ringo, had undergone a decisively effective restyling, with the rhythm changed from 4/4 to 3/4 to serve as a rhythmic base for a rock blues arrangement that featured Jimmy Page's guitar soaring, at the time involved in one of his last stints as a studio musician before assembling Led Zeppelin and moving on to much bigger things. Another instrument in the forefront of the arrangement is the Hammond organ operated by Tommy Eyre, immediately memorable in the long, ascending initial arpeggio and then constantly important throughout the piece. Ultimately decisive is the role given to the three black backing vocalists, capable of injecting the power and evocativeness of gospel into the hard rock blues base, excellently driven by Procol Harum's excellent drummer B.J. Wilson.
Biographies state that the ambitious Page seized this common session opportunity for Cocker's record to ask the same Wilson if he was interested in forming a band with him, bassist and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, and Keith Reid on vocals... History had it that Wilson declined and, regarding the singer, Reid also eventually backed out, while recommending Page contact a guy from around Birmingham named Robert Plant who, upon learning that the drummer position was still vacant, brought along his neighbor and close friend John Bonham...
Returning to Cocker and this epochal reinterpretation of the Beatles song, it remains one of the best examples of added value given to someone else's song: the truly heartfelt performance of the Sheffield singer, the wise and powerful transformation of the original pop ditty into something authentically intense and engaging, the impeccable arrangement, and the beautiful voices answering the titular man's vigorous raspiness (by the way: in my opinion, at Woodstock, producer Kramer had the choruses redone in the studio, discarding the tracks that captured the two Grease Band guys at the microphone: in the soundtrack those voices sound too clean, powerful, precise, effective, and... feminine considering the situation, the live capturing techniques of that time, their... faces!), all contribute to making this track epochal and, for once, to defraud the Beatles of historical memory regarding their creation. Indeed, in the American Hall of Glory, they included this version, not the one from Sgt. Pepper, rightly so.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Bye Bye Blackbird (03:30)
Pack up all my cares and woes
Feeling low here I go
Bye bye blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar sweet so is she
Bye bye blackbird
No one seems to love or understand me
And all the hard luck stories they keep handing me
Where somebody shines the light
I'll be coming on home tonight
Bye bye blackbird
Nobody seems to love or understand me
And all the hard luck stories they keep on handing me
Where somebody shines the light
I'm coming on home tonight
Bye bye blackbird
03 Change in Louise (03:25)
Still taking pictures of people at rest,
smiling at men who are never impressed,
always working hard down on bended knee,
who else but me can see the change in Louise?
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
I'll take you any place you wanna go, (yes I will)
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
and I'll show you all the things you want to know (if I can)
Livng her life at a speed all her own,
talking to people where ever she goes,
always working hard she won't disagree,
who else but me can see the change in Louise?
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
I'll take you any place you wanna go, (yes I will)
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
and I'll show you all the things you want to know (if I can)
04 Marjorine (02:16)
(Joe Cocker/Chris Stainton)
Marjorine, where have you been?
Did you meet the queen, Marjorine?
Let me know. Why did you go?
Why don't you show, Marjorine?
Oh, down by the sea, searchin' for me, Marjorine.
I want you back, but you will not get in the sack, no!
Each I go to town I see your face in a crowd and,
when I come back home, I call your name aloud.
Marjorine, life is too short.
You'll just get caught, Marjorine.
Hard to find. What's on your mind?
Won't be unkind, Marjorine.
Oh, clouds start to form, keeping you warm, Marjorine.
Life can be clean. Where have you been, oh, Marjorine?
07 Sandpaper Cadillac (03:19)
Riding along in a sandpaper Cadillac
Somebody\'s strikin\' a match on the back
Brimstone lines marring the body so fair
Brimstone lines marring the body so fair
Slowly, my mind and dream change into woe, now
My car is dead and gone, Lord
And I just can\'t carry on
Changing, my thoughts become so clear to me
My car wants to be free, I know
And it\'s calling out to me, yeah
Walking along with a gold-plated *****cat
Somebody\'s pouring blood on its back
Paint that has pierced all the pores in his hide
Paint that has pierced all the pores in his hide
Slowly, my mind and dream change into woe, now
My cat is all alone, I know it
And it hasn\'t got a bone
Changing, my thoughts become so clear to me
My cat begins to sleep
And it\'s sleeping \'round with me
Don\'t you know I need that thing so bad
My car and my cat are going bad
And I need everything I can, Lady
Aaaaa! Oh, no no, this can\'t be the same, no
They\'re gonna meet me once again, yeah
They\'re gonna meet me once again, Lord
09 With a Little Help From My Friends (05:14)
What would you do if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
I will try not to sing out of key
Oh baby I get by
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
All I need is my brother
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
I say I want to get high with them
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Whoah, yeah
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
What do I do when my love is away?
(Does it worry you to be all alone?)
No, no.
How do I feel at the end of the day?
(Are you sad 'cause you're on your own?)
I tell you I don't even say it no more.
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Gonna get by with my friends
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm gonna try
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Keep on getting high oh, oh
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Do you need anybody?)
I need someone to love
(Could it be anybody?)
All I need is someone
Know just where I'm going, yeah
Somebody knows what I'm showing
Baby
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna make it with my friends
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Oh, oh I'm gonna keep on trying, yeah, yeah
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
I'm gonna keep on trying, now babe
(Would you believe in a love at first sight?)
I'm certain it happens all the time, yeah
(What do you see when you turn out the light?)
I can't tell you, but it sure feels like mine, now
(I get by with a little help from my friends)
Don't you know I'm going to make it with my friends?
(Try with a little help from my friends)
I promised myself I'd get by
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna try it, but not too hard
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Do you need anybody?)
Whoah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
(Could it be anybody?)
Oh, it's gotta be somebody
Gonna treat me right
Somebody take me there now
Oh yeah, yeah
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna get by with my friends
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Oh yes, I'm gonna keep trying now
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Keep on trying with my friends
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Oh, ain't nothing gonna stop me anymore
(Try with a little help from my friends)
I'm gonna keep on trying now
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
I'm getting high
I'm gonna make time, no no
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
Gonna get by with my friends
Oh, I'm gonna get on by
Yes, I'm gonna get on by, yeah
Gonna take 'em all along with me
I'm gonna take 'em all along, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
I'm doing this in every way I feel it in the morning sign
Oh, I'm gonna take my friends along with me
I get by with a little help from my friends
10 I Shall Be Released (04:35)
They say ev'rything can be replaced,
Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry face
Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
They say ev'ry man needs protection,
They say ev'ry man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
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Other reviews
By joejoeblues
"Joe Cocker secured participation in the Woodstock Festival in August 1969 where his live set proved to be among the most memorable and intense."
"A record to own, calmly included among the 10 most important and influential albums of the Woodstock generation."
