With a Little Help from My Friends
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| "With a Little Help from My Friends" | |||||
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| Song by The Beatles | |||||
| Album | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | ||||
| Released | 30 September 1967 | ||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 29 March 1967 |
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| Genre | Pop rock | ||||
| Length | 2:44 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone R6022 | ||||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | |||||
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Side one
Side two |
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| Yellow Submarine Songtrack track listing | |||||
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"With a Little Help from My Friends" (originally titled A Little Help from My Friends) is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, released on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. The song was written for and sung by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr as the character "Billy Shears"; it is ranked #304 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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[edit] Origins
Lennon and McCartney finished writing this song in mid-March 1967[1], written specifically as Starr's track for the album. It was briefly called Bad Finger Boogie (later the inspiration for the band name Badfinger[2]), supposedly because Lennon composed the melody on a piano using his middle finger after having hurt his forefinger; but in his 1980 Playboy interview Lennon said: "This is Paul, with a little help from me. 'What do you see when you turn out the light/ I can't tell you, but I know it's mine...' is mine."
Lennon and McCartney deliberately wrote a tune with a limited range - except for the last note, which McCartney worked closely with Starr to achieve.
Speaking in the Anthology, Starr insisted on changing the first line which originally was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?" He changed the lyric so that fans would not throw tomatoes at him should he perform it live. (In the early days, after George Harrison made a passing comment that he liked jelly babies, the group was showered with them at all of their live performances.)[3]
The song's composition is unusually well documented as Hunter Davies was present and described the writing process in the Beatles' official biography.
The song is largely in the form of a conversation, in which the other three Beatles sing a question and Starr answers, for example: "Would you believe in a love at first sight? / Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time."
The band started recording the song the same day that they posed for the Sgt. Pepper album cover (30 March 1967). The session finished at 7:30 the following morning.
[edit] Credits
- Paul McCartney: bass guitar, piano, backing vocals
- John Lennon: cowbell, backing vocal, piano
- George Harrison: lead guitar, tambourine
- Ringo Starr: drums and lead vocals
- George Martin: Hammond organ
[edit] Cover versions
There are numerous interpretations of the the song and it has achieved the number one position on the British singles charts three times; by Joe Cocker in 1968, Wet Wet Wet in 1988 and by Sam and Mark in 2004.
| "With a Little Help from My Friends" | |||||
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| Single by Joe Cocker | |||||
| from the album With a Little Help from My Friends | |||||
| Released | October 1968 (UK) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1968 | ||||
| Genre | Rock/Blues | ||||
| Length | 5:11 | ||||
| Label | Polydor | ||||
| Joe Cocker singles chronology | |||||
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[edit] Joe Cocker version
Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, in a different key, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction (featuring drums by Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson and guitar lines from Jimmy Page). It was used as the opening theme song of the American television series The Wonder Years and is one of Joe Cocker's most famous songs. Cocker can be seen performing the song at Woodstock in 1969 and can be seen in the related documentary film, "3 Days of Peace and Music". The cover was ranked #2 in UpVenue's top 10 best music covers of all time in 2009.[4]
The version heard in the film Across the Universe segues from the original to Joe Cocker's arrangement at the end of the song.
[edit] Wet Wet Wet version
| "With a Little Help from My Friends" | |||||
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| Single by Wet Wet Wet | |||||
| Released | 9 May 1988 (UK) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1988 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Label | PolyGram | ||||
| Wet Wet Wet singles chronology | |||||
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Wet Wet Wet's version was released on 9 May 1988. The proceeds from sales of the single, which spent four weeks at Number One in the UK chart, were around £600,000, all of which was donated to ChildLine, the UK-based charity for abused children. Billy Bragg's performance of "She's Leaving Home" was the joint A-side. Vocalist Marti Pellow recorded his own version of the song for inclusion on his 2002 album Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile.
[edit] Other versions
- In 1976, Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra recorded the song for the musical documentary film All This and World War II.
- In 1993, Toto released a cover version of it on Absolutely Live.
- Bon Jovi use the song for the opening of MTV special called Keep the Faith: An Evening with Bon Jovi. The show took place at the Kaufman's Studios Astoria Queens NYC in 1992.
- In 2007, Razorlight re-recorded the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.
- In 2007, Les Fradkin released a guitar instrumental interpretation on his CD "Pepper Front To Back". It drew from the Joe Cocker arrangement but put a more aggressive styled lead guitar out front.
- Actors Joe Anderson and Jim Sturgess sang the song in the 2007 musical film Across the Universe.
- The Easy Star All-Stars covered the song on their reggae album 'Easy Stars Lonely Hearts Dub Band' in 2009. The album consists of the entire Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles album covered by the Easy Star All-Stars in a reggae/dub style.
- The Rutles' song "Rendezvous" is based on this song.
- Sham 69 did a cover of the song as a b-side for "Questions and Answers".
[edit] Cultural legacy
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2008) |
- The song was performed by the characters on the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends float in the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since it was public and mainly intended for children, they censored the line "I get high with a little help from my friends" by repeating the preceding line "I get by with a little help from my friends."
- The song plays an integral part in the plot of the 1971 novel "The Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula K. Le Guin.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dowlding, William J., Beatlesongs (New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1989, ISBN 0-671-68229-6), p. 165
- ^ According to Neil Aspinall. Matovina, Dan: Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger, Google Books, 2000. Retrieved 25 March 2008
- ^ The Beatles, Anthology, p. 242
- ^ UpVenue Top 10 Best Music Covers
[edit] External links
- How B.J. Wilson Rescued a Classic Joe Cocker Track (page about B.J. Wilson and Joe Cocker's recording of the song)
- The Beatles, (1978), McGraw-Hill.
| Preceded by "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin |
UK number one single 6 November 1968 - 13 November 1968 (Joe Cocker version) |
Succeeded by "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra |
| Preceded by "Perfect" by Fairground Attraction |
UK number one single 15 May 1988 - 12 June 1988 (Wet Wet Wet version) |
Succeeded by "Doctorin' the Tardis" by The Timelords |
| Preceded by "Take Me To The Clouds Above" by LMC vs U2 |
UK number one single 15 February 2004 - 21 February 2004 (Sam and Mark version) |
Succeeded by "Who's David?" by Busted |
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