Sunday to
Monday,
August 17–18
Joe Cocker
2–3:30 PM
If a single number can be said to crys-
tallize the Woodstock experience, a
case could be made for one interpreted
by a scraggly 25-year-old singer from
Sheff ield, England, with a coarse, soul-
ful voice—heavily infl uenced by Ray
Charles—and a unique onstage style:
arms fl ailing wildly, strumming an air
guitar at times, like a marionette pos-
sessed by rhythm and raw emotion. Joe
Cocker was born John Robert Cocker
but started his career in the early ’60s
under the stage name Vance Arnold,
which he soon abandoned. In 1968,
Cocker achieved his first commer-
cial hit with a cover of the Beatles’
“With a Little Help from My Friends.”
Reinventing the tune as an R&B num-
ber, he supplanted Ringo Starr’s dry
(albeit engaging) drone with his own
gutsy rasp. The record hit No. 1 on the
British charts, but Cocker was rela-
tively unknown to the Woodstock
pilgrims as he started off day three
at two p.m. Joining Cocker was the
Grease Band, led by keyboardist–bass
guitarist Chris Stainton, the singer’s
favorite sideman. Cocker performed
a series of covers—Dylan’s “Dear
Landlord,” “Something’s Coming On,”
and “Do I Still Figure in Your Life?—
and the response was more or less meh.
But things heated up when the Brit
launched into what would be one of his
standards, Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright?”
followed by another Dylan song, “Just
Like a Woman,” and then Ray Charles’s
“Let’s Go Get Stoned,” which, naturally,
resonated particularly well with this
audience. “I didn’t feel that for this mass
of people I was getting through until we
did ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned,’ which got all
of them up because most of them were,”
Cocker remembered. “When we got into
‘With a Little Help from My Friends,’
I felt... that we’d caught the massive
consciousness.” On one level, Cocker’s
“Friends” captured the euphorically
communal vibe in Bethel. Moreover,
few would ever think of that song the
same way—his rendition, immortalized
in the Woodstock documentary, stands
as one of the classic performances in
rock history.AFTER WOODSTOCK: Cocker was trans-
formed into a superstar. His Mad Dogs
& Englishmen tour—with Stainton,
Leon Russell, and others—was huge,
featuring songs such as “The Letter,”
“Cry Me a River,” and the Beatles’
“She Came in Through the Bathroom
Window,” along with songs he sang
at Woodstock. Cocker suffered some
psychological issues, developed and
kicked a heroin habit, and battled alco-
holism, but eventually sobered up.
He registered a number of hit singles
in later years, including “You Are So
Beautiful” and “Up Where We Belong,”
a duet with Jennifer Warnes that was
on the soundtrack for the 1982 movie
An Officer and a Gentleman. Cocker’s
stage persona inspired a famous imper-
sonation by Saturday Night LiveÕs John
Belushi, which somewhat cruelly lam-
pooned his booze-guzzling. As it turned
out Cocker long outlived Belushi, who
had demons of his own. Cocker died in
2014, at 70, from lung cancer.Country Joe and the Fish
6:30–7:50 PM
After Cocker’s mesmerizing turn, the
monsoon rains returned, swamp-
ing the area for hours, and turning
Yasgur’s farm into a vast lake of mud.
Many concertgoers began to flee theWHILE HE’D ATTRACTED SOME
attention back home in Britain,
Joe Cocker had little name
recognition in America upon
his arrival at Woodstock. That
changed in a hurry, especially
when the quirky singer brought
his set to a climax (with a little
help from his friends): “Would
you believe in a love at fi rst
sight?” crooned his bandmates.
To which Cocker sweetly
replied, “Yes, I’m certain that
it happens all the time.” The
audience was smitten.72 LIFE WOODSTOCK