What do you know about the song "With a Little Help From My Friends"?

Question

Originally it was titled "Badfinger Boogie." It was written by Paul, with a little help from John, as a song for Ringo. There is a section in the Beatles Biography by Hunter Davis that describes John and Paul working on this song.
Later, this Beatles song was covered by Joe Cocker at Woodstock in 1969. I have made a new friend at one of the open mic nights that I attend. He is a Joe Cocker impersonator. He does the entire Woodstock show complete with Cocker's gyrating antics.
Here is the Wiki background on the song
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_a_Little_Help_from_My_Friends

Answer 1

The Recording:



Location: Abbey Road Studios, London.



Dates: March 29th, 1967 -Ten takes of the song were recored. From the first take, they began with what sounds like the ending of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": the Billll-lyyyyy Shears introduction of Ringo's lead vocal.



They had decided early on that Sgt. Pepper would segue right into With A Little Help From My Friends. Underscoring the opening line was a Hammond organ piece played by George Martin. Then Paul added piano; George, guitar; Ringo, drums and John cowbell. The tenth take was considered best. They did a reduction mix down to one track, and then overdubbed Ringo;s vocal onto Track 3 and 4.



March 30th, 1967, 11:00 pm - 7:30 am [the reason for the late start was that the Fabs were posing for the now-famous Michael Cooper shots on the album cover and gatefold], The song now had its final title, and they overdubbed guitar, tambourine, bass, backing vocals by John and Paul and another guitar piece by George.



March 31st, 1967 - Fifteen mono remixes, with a heavy dose of Artificial Double Tracking.



April 7, 1967 - Stereo remixing



June 1. 1967 - First released on the U.K. LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.



Players/instruments:



Ringo Starr....Drums, lead vocals

Paul McCartney...Bass, piano, backing vocals

John Lennon...Cowbell, backing vocals

George Harrison...Guitar, tambourine

George Martin...Hammond Organ



According to John, the song was originally conceived by Paul, but they completed it "pretty well fifty/fifty." One specific line John remembered contributing was, "What do you see when you turn out the light / I can't tell you but I know it's mine.



The crowd noise at the beginning of this song was from the Beatles August 23, 1964, concert at the Hollywood Bowl.



The working title of the song was Badfinger Boogie. John had an injured finger while the boys were working on it.



The first line of the song was originally written as "What would you do If I sang out of tune, would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me." Ringo refused to sing it because he had not-so-fond memories of fans throwing things at them when they performed live. The line was changed.



From a Stones Fan



take care

dave

Answer 2

"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 The 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. McCartney and Starr performed this song for the first time together at the David Lynch Foundation Benefit Concert in the Radio City Music Hall, New York on 4 April 2009.



Lennon and McCartney finished writing this song in mid-March 1967, written specifically as Starr's track for the album. It was briefly called Bad Finger Boogie (later the inspiration for the band name Badfinger), 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 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.)



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 partly 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 day before they posed for the Sgt. Pepper album cover (29 March 1967), wrapping up the session at 5:45 in the morning.

Answer 3

I prefer Joe Cocker's version

Answer 4

great women dont cry? Little Wing (neil youthful - way imprecise) Little T&A - Rolling Stones great Hits, extreme Tides and green Grass (ok, not fairly on subject rely..) extraordinary lights, great city - extra stones

Answer 5

Apart from what you said, it appeared on "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club"