The Energy Of Cocker

I first landed eyes of Joe Cocker on an old episode of Saturday Night Live. He performed a Traffic cover song called Feeling Alright, one of his most popular songs. In the middle of the song he was surprised to see legendary comedian John Belushi join him on stage impersonating him, lip syncing along. Later Joe would say that Belushi did a better Joe Cocker than Joe Cocker. It was a turning point in Joe's career after he was in huge debt to A&M records. He would then embark on a huge world tour. But how can a man with such a gritty, drity, thunderous voice not become looked up to and gazed upon, alcoholism plagued Joe's life for many years. But he battled back and still performs to this day. In this video Joe plays the famous Woodstock festival, he was actually thought to be a roadie when musicians saw him backstage because of his hippie/hobo look. He did not look the part of a fantastic singer but boy did he ever perform. Theres no way you can walk out of a Joe Cocker show and be disappointed. He does do alot of cover songs but he has a nack for making those cover songs his own. Im sure many people thought Feeling Alright or With A Little Help From My Friends or The Letter were Joe Cocker songs. He has covered a humongous array of different bands such as Traffic, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Leon Russell, Chuck Berry just to name a few. Every performance Joe gives it his all, the energy he releases is second to none. The movements of his body can be looked upon as abnormal but he gets really into the music, so much that the music moves him in ways that no one else can really comprehend. Hes a musician true and true, lived the life more than once and came back to punch it in the face. I am a huge Joe Cocker fan and even today you can see him at a show and lay it all on the line, he still has the voice to move you or stand you still.

A Folkin Bunch Of Rockers

Starting off as a psychedelic band, Traffic dabbled into the ever expanding category of folk rock. Joining The Byrds, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, etc they released the ever classic album John Barleycorn Must Die. The song John Barleycorn is an old English folk song that was in a collection of English folk songs by Cecil Sharpe in the early 1900s. There are many versions of the song and is translated in a wide array of languages. The song can be dated back to 1465. Here Traffic sings John Barleycorn with a great arrangement done very well by the band leader Steve Winwood. Other songs on this album were all written by Steve Winwood and drummer Jim Capaldi and are all written in the folk rock sound of the 60s.