Today's song is "With a Little Help from My Friends". Sung by Ringo Starr as Billy Shears, this song is a well-known and often-covered Beatles classic. Aside from the original, the Joe Cocker version is probably the most popular and served as the title song for the TV series The Wonder Years. The song was also performed in Across the Universe, in a great scene about male bonding.
Despite my familiarity with Joe Cocker's version, I'm pretty sure I'd only heard the original maybe once, so it was nice to get a refresher. Ringo adds so much unique quirkiness that I automatically love this song. The lyrics are solid, and I love the call-and-response technique ("Would you believe in a love at first sight? / Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time").
As an interesting fact, originally the first lines were a bit different:
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 stand up and throw 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.)
That's it for today. See you tomorrow!
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Heard It Tally: 23
Songs Completed: 116
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