In 1968, Joe Cocker had his first Top 40 success with With A Little Help From My Friends. The singer who died in 2014 has a total of 14 hits on the list.

The song was originally recorded by The Beatles in 1967 for the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote the song in which Ringo Starr handled vocals. You can also hear Starr singing on the Yellow Sublarine. Originally, the first line of the song was “What would you think if I sang a song out of tune? Will you throw ripe tomatoes at me?” is. It then nuances with the second line “Would you mind getting up and walking out of me?”.

McCartney heard Joe Cocker’s version and was immediately enthusiastic: “Absolutely unprecedented. He managed to turn the song into a soul theme and I am forever grateful to him for doing that.”

Joe Cocker scored especially well with his performance at Woodstock. In the United States, With a Little Help From My Friends remained a moderate hit, reaching number 68 as the best position. In the United Kingdom, it was a number 1 hit, reaching number 2 in the Top 40. It was listed in 1968 and in 1972. Later, the song played a prominent role in the series The Wonder Years, which had six seasons between 1988 and 1993.

Many covers of With A Little Help From My Friends have been published, including by Wet Wet Wet, Barbra Streisand as well as Santana. An excellent remake is the remake of Moe Cocker, a dog from British Sesame Street. He barks for help to his friends to help with fleas or find his bones.

Exciting? You can read more about the origin of the Top 40 hits here originalhits.nl