With a Little Help from My Friends
"With a Little Help from My Friends" is a song recorded by English rock band the Beatles for their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney with contributions from John Lennon, and is sung by drummer Ringo Starr (as Sgt. Pepper singer Billy Shears), his lead vocal for the album. As the second track on the album, it segues from the applause on the title track.
This article is about the Beatles song. For other uses, see With a Little Help from My Friends (disambiguation)."With a Little Help from My Friends"
A subsequent recording of the track by Joe Cocker became a success in 1968—topping the UK Singles Chart—and an anthem for the Woodstock era.[3] In 1978, the Beatles' recording, paired with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", was reissued as a single, and peaked at number 63 in Britain and number 71 in the United States. Starr has regularly performed the song in concert as a solo artist. The song was ranked number 311 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Background and composition[edit]
Lennon and McCartney finished writing the song in mid-March 1967,[4] written specifically as Starr's track for the album. McCartney said: "It was pretty much co-written, John and I doing a work song for Ringo, a little craft job."[5] In 1970 Lennon stated: "Paul had the line about 'a little help from my friends.' He had some kind of structure for it, and we wrote it pretty well fifty-fifty from his original idea", but in 1980 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."[6] It was briefly called "Bad Finger Boogie" (later the inspiration for the band name Badfinger),[7] supposedly because Lennon composed the melody on a piano using his middle finger after having hurt his forefinger.
Lennon and McCartney deliberately wrote a tune with a limited range – except for the last note, which McCartney worked closely with Starr to achieve. In The Beatles Anthology, Starr explained that he insisted on changing the first line – which originally was "What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?" – 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).[8]
After it was released in the United States, Maryland Governor and future Vice President Spiro T. Agnew lobbied to have the song banned because he believed it was about drug use.[9]
Recording[edit]
The Beatles began recording the song on 29 March 1967, the day before they posed for the Sgt. Pepper album cover. They recorded 10 takes of the song, wrapping up sessions at 5:45 in the morning.[10] The backing track consisted of Starr on drums, McCartney playing piano, Harrison playing lead guitar and Lennon beating a cowbell. At dawn, Starr trudged up the stairs to head home – but the other Beatles cajoled him into doing his lead vocal then and there, standing around the microphone for moral support.[6] The following day they added tambourine, backing vocals, bass, and more electric guitar.[10] American TeenSet editor Judith Sims interviewed each Beatle separately on the 29th as they became available. Others in the studio at various times included roadies Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, publicists Tony Barrow and Terry Doran, photographers Leslie Bryce and Frank Herrmann, and Cynthia Lennon.[11]
According to Ian MacDonald:[12]
The Beatles
Additional musician
Live performances[edit]
McCartney and Starr performed this song together for the first time since 1967 at the David Lynch Foundation Benefit Concert in the Radio City Music Hall, New York on 4 April 2009. McCartney and Starr also performed the song together on "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles", a commemorative show on 27 January 2014, that marked 50 years since the band's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.[14]
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
"Something's Coming On"
October 1968 (UK)
1968
5:12
- Regal Zonophone (UK)
- A&M (US)
"She's Leaving Home" (performed by Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey)
9 May 1988
Park Lane Studios, Scotland
2:34
The Precious Organization
Wet Wet Wet
"Measure of a Man"
21 February 2004 (UK)
2003
David Eriksen
