Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Monday March 7

I have to admit that I heard Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends before I heard the Beatles version. I was almost 9 when I saw the the premier of The Wonder Years, which used his version as the theme song. I was young enough that I didn’t understand the premier episode was only the start of a weekly television show. I thought Winnie’s brother dying and Kevin kissing her in the park was the end of the whole thing!

Back to the song – it definitely held my attention every time I heard it, but it’s a completely different song (and as good or better) than the Beatles version. I was a little sad when I heard the “real version” years later. It’s a bit sillier in tone than Cocker’s fantastic freakout version. Ringo singing it doesn’t help disabuse  me of that opinion.

It’s a bummer to hear Sgt Pepper for the first time in the modern world instead of in its time; it’s been imitated and influential for so long, those of us who didn’t experience it when it was released can’t really grasp how amazingly groundbreaking it must have been. It’s still a great album, but I feel a bit robbed.