A Taste Of Honey January 22 2015
When John Robert “Joe” Cocker died on December 22 2014 at the age of 70, Paul McCartney said “He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and,like many people I loved his singing.I was especially pleased when he decided to cover ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and I remember him and producer Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Saville row and playing me what they’d recorded and it was totally mind blowing,totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful to him for doing that”.
Joe had a feeling for great songs and covered four Beatles songs plus songs written by Wayne Carson Thompson, Billy Preston, Joshua Kadison,Randy Newman, Leon Russell and R.E.M. just for starters. He chose well and bravely because covering a song such as ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ at its peak begged comparisons with the original. It worked(oh boy did it work !) and Joe’s raucous, energetic, ‘heart full of soul ‘ approach to songs attracted many of the best composers of the day. From 1961-2014 Joe toured, had challenges with depression and alcohol, stopped and started the recording process several times, but never gave in to all varied personal and professional pressures he faced. His career boasted many hits across the world, a Grammy, an Academy Award for Best Song,many local awards in Sheffield (where he was born) and other municipalities across the globe and an OBE in 2008. Who cannot reminisce when listening to ‘You are So Beautiful’,’You Can Leave Your Hat On’,’Up Where We Belong’, and the list goes on. RIP Joe Cocker – thankyou for the emotion, the soul, the energy and the memories.
FOR THE FULL PLAYLIST PLEASE GO TO THE EASTSIDEHOMEPAGE AND CLICK ON PROGRM GUIDE AND THEN ‘A TASTE OF HONEY’ AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED,INCLUDING BACK PROGRAMS THAT YOU MIGHT ENJOY,AND CAN AT YOUR LEISURE 24/7.