Remembering Joe Cocker: Rock’s Soulful Interpreter
by Jeff TamarkinMay 20, 1944 – December 22, 2014
Joe Cocker at Woodstock
There’s a hilarious video, that takes Joe Cocker’s classic Woodstock performance of “With a Little Help From My Friends” and annotates the “misheard lyrics” with absurd-but-plausible closed captioning and chortle-inducing illustrations. It’s only after you watch it that you realize that, no matter how many times you may have seen the original clip, taken from the film of the iconic 1969 festival, you too have probably never understood half the things Cocker was actually singing during those four minutes. (Watch it below.)
You also realize that it never mattered. Cocker’s delivery of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s staple is so electrifying, so histrionic and imbued with raw soul power, that he could have been singing the words to “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and it still would have left you breathless.
That was Cocker’s gift. Among the crop of white British R&B belters that emerged in the ’60s – and that includes Mick Jagger, Eric Burdon, Jack Bruce and Steve Winwood – Cocker, who died December 22, 2014 at age 70, may have been the most ballsy and uninhibited of all. But behind the seemingly unconstrained air-guitar gesticulations and fitful body movements, Cocker was a deadly serious, wholly original interpreter of songs who could take material not only from the Beatles and Dylan but Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, Allen Toussaint, his idol Ray Charles or, on one of his last albums, country singer Keith Urban, and totally transform it. No less than Paul McCartney himself called Cocker’s “With a Little Help…” the definitive version of the song that made the coarse-voiced Sheffield-born singer a global megastar.
Throughout the post-Woodstock years, Cocker’s popularity and the quality of his output roller-coastered, arguably in relation to the abuse he heaped upon himself until he finally left it behind – it was lung cancer that ultimately did him in. By most measures he peaked early on his massive 30-plus-member Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour.
Related: Our Album Rewind of Mad Dogs & Englishmen
But he rebounded twice after many of his original fans had lost track of him, first with 1975’s Billy Preston-co-written ballad “You Are So Beautiful” and again in 1982, when he scored his only chart-topping single, “Up Where We Belong,” a duet with Jennifer Warnes that got its boost as the theme song for the Richard Gere vehicle An Officer And a Gentleman.
Both of those songs seemed a far cry in intensity and soul content from Cocker’s earlier output. But a close enough listen reveals that his commitment to putting across a lyric in the most substantial manner possible is still intact. And even as he aged, toning down the onstage antics and maintaining a more conservative demeanor, Joe Cocker never lost that fire.
Related: Cocker is among the most glaring omissions of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Cocker, who lived out his later years in Colorado, kept himself busy on his days off fly fishing and tending to his greenhouse. As impossible as it might be to reconcile that image with the videos of the young Brit in full spasm, it’s a safe bet that he fished and gardened with all his heart and soul too.
Cocker’s recordings are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
Related: Our review of the documentary Mad Dog With Soul
13 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationOutrageous that he neve got into the Rock Hall while he was alive, and even moreso since his death.
Another big hit from later years, not mentioned here, was his late 80s/early 90s smash “When the Night Comes.” Great tune, and I think it helped kickstart something of a revival for Joe’s career. In the 90s and 2000s, he recorded a number of strong albums and notable tracks and continued to tour regularly. He is sorely missed.
Yes, glad to see “When The Night Comes” getting some love in the comments.
My high school buddies did the light show at Fillmore West on the weekend we landed on the moon in July 1969, with Country Joe headlining over a then unknown Joe Cocker. They told me, “You gotta see this guy!” Joe was great with his sympatico Grease Band and we became instant fans. Seeing him belt out “With A Little Help From My Friends” standing on the light show platform with both posters from my friend’s bedroom and the TV from the moon landing splattered on the back wall of the Carousel, high on a horse tab of mescaline,
was a defining moment in my life, I can tell you!
For the week after that Fillmore show, Joe and the Grease Band played at a small Manhattan club called The Scene, where my band was his opener. I got to hang out with a Joe and show him around New York. This was pre-Woodstock and fame hadn’t struck him yet. In fact I picked out the tie-died tee shirt he wore at Woodstock. He was a down to earth nice guy with a great soul.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE CRITERIA IS TO GET IN THE HALLOWED HALLS…..BUT GEES NO JOE COCKER….THIS TRULY BAFFLES ME TO NO END….THAT VOICE AND MY GOD THAT SCREAM HE MASTERED STILL TO THIS DAY MAKES ME SHIVER…..LET JUSTICE BE DONE VOTE HIM IN
I saw Joe Cocker a couple of times, he was just a great entertainer, I once saw the sexist barmaid you ever saw, jump on the bar when His version of “You can leave your hat on” came on the juke box, It was the sexiest song that Rock and Roll ever saw, and Joe Cocker made it that way. He should be in the Rock and Roll hall of fame, for that tune alone.
I have a real sore spot when it comes to the more aptly named Rock and Roll Hall of Shame, as I deeply contend of the numerous injustices leveled over the years, since its’ inception, but in particular, more so after Jann Wenner basically took complete control, around 1992.
This stated, without going into my multiple notebook-page listings, and accompanying supportive dissertations, of who to-date has gotten the shaft, Joe Cocker is, without a doubt, in the upper echelons of getting the Wenner Snub.
So many forgettable performers are now in “The Hall” whereas, to this day, when a Joe Cocker song comes on the radio, even casual listeners know it is the Mad Dog from Sheffield.
To Bluzrider,; I cracked a smile at your comment, as my ladyfriend in the early 90s, was also hot, but danced to the song for me in private, leaving only her hat on, by the time the song ended………
Thanks for stoking a pleasant memory.
Folks, I’m sorry for all your frustration — believe me, I really am. But if you haven’t figured out that the R&RHOF is not what it pretends to be, by now, I don’t know what to tell you. There are artists, beyond even Todd Rundgren, who’ve attempted to use their fame and interest in them by “The Hall” to shine a line on what that organization really is. But to no avail it seems, as folks like you continue to believe in what it is, and ultimately continue to be disappointed by what it is not. Perhaps it is time for a real ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME to be created, though we’d have to find another name for it, The good one is already taken by a charlatan.
As this article is a homage to Joe Cocker, I would like to express another gem from Joe, that somehow got lukewarm reviews from many print critics; that being the album “Joe Cocker” (aka “Something To Say” or “Joe Cocker and the Chris Stainton Band”).
This was the next album following “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”, and for my liking, was one of Cocker’s most expressive Rock/R&B offerings, quality selection of songs throughout, and a very good group of musicians backing and in-sync with him.
“High Time We Went”, Joe’s gritty version of Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider”, “Pardon Me Sir”, “St. James Infirmary Blues” , and the list goes on.
Different strokes for different folks, but other than MD&E and Compilations, this my favorite Joe Cocker album from beginning to end.
I still have my vinyl copy from college with the original cover design, still in the plastic sleeve I protect all my vinyl with, and as it turns out, it is a good thing, as the vinyl album is reportedly now a collector’s item.
Regardless, I still spin it every so often, and enjoy it, from the first groove through the last note.
JOE COCKER….AND STILL NOT IN THE R&R HALL OF FAME- WHY???
First, he absolutely belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Problem is unless McCartney pushes for it, he won’t get in. Second, his cover of “Darling Be Home Soon” by the Lovin’ Spoonful is a masterpiece. Finally, he is missed.
Saw Joe with Tina Turner at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island
One of the best shows ever
I got to see him at Woodstock. I was there looking for the Beatles. No Beatles! Just a weird guy in tie-dye. Weird! But I sure remember him. He had amazing energy. I’ll bet he was a hell of a fisherman as well.