With a Little Help from My Friends

And I was, I was fascinated by the Paul is dead stuff 'cause I, all I knew was, like, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and they're telling me about pl- hearing Number Nine played backwards.

They're telling me about, like, uh, the White Album, Why Don't We Do It in the Road, all of the m- secret messages, and Magical Mystery Tour, and, and With a Little Help From My Friends.

And, like, uh, all of that stuff I think is where my indie inclination comes from.

I think the late Beatles is what opened up Radiohead and Beck and-

Either way, it was a tragic end for one of the most well-regarded drummers in rock music of his era, as he died at just age 38.

But the show had to go on for Toto, and in 1993, I saw they released a cover of the song, with a little help from my friends.

Oh yes, the song made famous when Ringo Starr of the Beatles sung it back in 1967.

Well, Toto went a little unhinged here, and they released a 10-minute live cover of the song as a single.

Their last successful tunes were a couple songs that dented the charts in the late 80s, including Pamela, Holy Anna, and Anna.

I guess after Rosanna, they wanted to write more songs that ended in Anna.

Why not? Anyway, I was crazy enough to listen to the whole 10 minute version of With a Little Help from my friends that they did.

Here's a snippet that I liked.

That is, until a gravelly-voiced phenom did a live version that tore a hole in the ozone.

Talk about Joe Cocker giving us the definitive version of The Beatles' With a Little Help From My Friends.

Say it no more.

With a little help from my friends.

Now, according to Paul McCartney, With a Little Help From My Friends, that began at Lennon's house under the working title Bad Finger Boogie.

The two legends banged away at a piano for hours, singing whatever popped into their heads.

But the song was really meant for Ringo Starr, and with Ringo behind the mic, The Beatles recorded it at Abbey Road on March 29th, 1967.

Friends matter.

I Love You was the very first song to use that chord sequence, flat 6th to flat 7th to the I chord.

I don't know if that's true, but it is true that it's since been used in quite a few well-known songs, like With a Little Help from My Friends, Lady Madonna, Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen, Paranoid by Black Sabbath, and Lola by The Kinks.

The next small surprise is the number of bars in each verse.

Most popular music does things in multiples of four.

Shout out to Ringo, who sings this one beautifully.

It is with a little help from my friends.

What can you say? This is actually the fourth spin.

So you never know.

Our friends Char and Shirley.

Want to shout out this one and shout out the Joe Cocker version as well.

It is with a little help from my friends from the Beatles, the bonus track of the week for part two.

Listener.

Okay.

And why did you pick this song with a little help from my friends by the Beatles to remember him?

So the Beatles, when they sing that song, and I'm sure you're going to play their version now, like it's kind of laid back, but he made it his own and he made it into a sing song.

So everybody would sing with Ken to the song.

OK, here it is.

For his dad, Ken, this is Keith Barry's first choice today.

The Beatles with a little help from my friends.

What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song And I'll try not to sing out of key Oh, I get by with a little help from my friend I get high with a little help from my friend Gonna try with a little help from my friend OK,

...

there are, uh, there are-- The, yeah, and I did, um, With a Little Help from My Friends I did on the 1893 Martin, and then everything else I did on, um, uh, the, the, the acoustic ones I did on this guitar.

Um, but so that's really kind of the fifth in the sequence with, with A Day in My Life being kind of a, like a, kind of a best of in the way I took some of my favorite arrangements, dozen of those, and did those in studio too, at Abbey Road, playing into microphones that were used on Beatle records.

Ah, okay.

key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.

Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends.

Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends.

Oh, what would I do if my love is away? Does it worry you

to

I want

somebody to love.

from my friends.

Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends.

Oh, I'm going to try with a little help from my friends.

Do you

need anybody? I just need someone to love Could it be anybody? I want somebody to love.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.

Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends.

Oh, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

A girl with kaleidoscope- That's it.

I'll play the, that's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds If nothing else, they gave you, uh, Ringo, talking about, try With a Little Help From My Friends-

[laughs]

... on this album.