# Joe Cocker at Woodstock **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305 "2005-03-07T03:27:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/1 "2005-03-07T03:27:26Z")
What was the deal with Joe Cocker at Woodstock? I’ve seen a video of him performing “A Little Help from my Friends” and he looked like he had some severe neurological ailment. It seems like I remember someone telling me he had something like that but can’t find any info on it. John Belushi did an imitation of him on SNL 20 years ago and that’s what made me think of this (it aired in reruns here last night). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/2 "2005-03-07T03:36:34Z")
I thought the same thing the first time I saw him. That’s just the way he performs. IIRC, he said he modeled his performance style on Ray Charles’ movements at the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/3 "2005-03-07T03:54:01Z")
Actually, a lot of the time he appears to be playing air guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/4 "2005-03-07T04:24:59Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > I’ve seen a video of him performing “A Little Help from my Friends” and he looked like he had some severe neurological ailment. Although his movements are odd, I’ve never heard that they are due to any kind of ailment. That’s just his mannerism. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/5 "2005-03-07T04:30:48Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > John Belushi did an imitation of him on SNL 20 years ago and that’s what made me think of this (it aired in reruns here last night). If it’s the episode I’m remembering, in which Cocker was the musical guest, I seem to recall that he didn’t look any too pleased with Belushi’s performance, probably because it was dead on target! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/6 "2005-03-07T13:11:19Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > I seem to recall that he didn’t look any too pleased with Belushi’s performance I doubt this, as they did a duet (which was hilarious). [According to this site](http://chr.davesdatebook.com/642e1976.htm): > [@](#): > > Cocker, familiar with Belushi’s “tribute” to him, claims that since “my band likes it, I’m as happy as a pig in s—.” ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/7 "2005-03-07T13:23:19Z")
He did/does look spastic when he sings. This thread reminded me of the time many years ago when I saw Bob Seger. I seem to remember him singing that way too, but to a lesser extent. Did Seeger sing like that or am I just misremembering? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/8 "2005-03-07T14:47:01Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Actually, a lot of the time he appears to be playing air guitar. Look more closely - that is obviously a four-string bass air guitar. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/9 "2005-03-13T00:46:00Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > If it’s the episode I’m remembering, in which Cocker was the musical guest, I seem to recall that he didn’t look any too pleased with Belushi’s performance, probably because it was dead on target! No, Joe Cocker wasn’t the musical guest on this particular episode although [epguides.com](http://epguides.com) credits Joe Cocker as a guest. [Snltranscripts.jt.org](http://Snltranscripts.jt.org) shows that it was John Belushi imitating Joe Cocker, which was obvious to me. This was the 3rd episode ever (1975). Rob Reiner was the host and there was no musical guest. Joe Cocker was musical guest on the second episode of 1976. He and Belushi performed “Feelin’ Alright” side by side. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/10 "2005-03-19T17:11:51Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > No, Joe Cocker wasn’t the musical guest on this particular episode although [epguides.com](http://epguides.com) credits Joe Cocker as a guest. [Snltranscripts.jt.org](http://Snltranscripts.jt.org) shows that it was John Belushi imitating Joe Cocker, which was obvious to me. This was the 3rd episode ever (1975). Rob Reiner was the host and there was no musical guest. > > Joe Cocker was musical guest on the second episode of 1976. He and Belushi performed “Feelin’ Alright” side by side. About ten years ago I did voice-over training. We were encouraged to do whatever it takes physically to get a particular sound out of our mouths, if that’s what the job called for. A number of professional V/O guys are notorious for the gymnastics they perform to get their voices to pay off. In another vein, there’s always been a payoff for white guys who can look and/or sound black, ever since the days of the minstrel shows. Long ago, when white interaction with blacks was at a minimum, One did not have to try particularly hard to seem black to a white audience: Ex. 1: A white person in blackface does not look a thing like a black person to anyone who as actually taken a look at a black person. Ex. 2: This one’s hard for me to believe, given that Elvis does not sound black to me, but: > [@](#): > > The date was July 5th, 1954. Elvis [Presley] recorded “I Love You Because” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” During a break, Elvis picked up his guitar and started playing Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All right, Mama.” Scotty [Moore] and Bill [Black] joined in, and [Sam] Phillips rushed out of the control booth and asked what they were doing. They stopped, but he told them to keep going - he wanted to capture the song on tape. It was the combination of white singer and black song that he had been looking for. > > Two days later, WHBQ’s Dewey Martin played an acetate of “That’s All Right, Mama” on his “Red, Hot and Blue” show. The station was inundated with calls from people who wanted to hear the song again. Elvis shied away from hearing the broadcast, and went to watch “High Noon” at the local movie house. His parents raced there and brought him to the station for an interview on Martin’s show. The DJ made a point to ask Elvis what high school he attended. It was only when he answered “Humes High” that the audience realized Presley was white. -Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits Later, after some color barriers were broken, and white people actually saw and heard black performers on a regular basis, white performers trying to pass as possessing that intagible quality called “soul” had to try a lot harder. My favorite illustration of this: Listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ recording of “Higher Ground”, a fantastic, high-energy version of that song. Now listen to Stevie Wonder’s original. The intensity that RHCP delivers, with the band at top volume and Anthony Kiedis wailing at the top of his lungs over them is achieved by Wonder hardly breaking a sweat. Joe Cocker’s stuff is meant to be heard, not seen, like a voice-over artist. I have seen him on that 1976 SNL episode. It is plain to me that his gyrations were what he had to do in order to get that deep soulful voice to come out of his pasty, Brit-boy body. ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/11 "2005-03-19T17:58:28Z")
…and then there’s the obvious: that Joe Cocker’s life as a performer, particularly around the time of Woodstock, probably included more than his fair share of drugs and alcohol. If you’ve ever been to a Grateful Dead show, you could see a thousand Joe Cockers doing the exact same gyrations in the audience. Ask most (pop/soul) singers, they’ll tell you it’s natural to want to move your hands and your body as part of the expression. Shoot them up with some cocaine, feed them some reds, wash it down with half a bottle of Beefeater, and if they’re still ambulatory, chances are they’ll put on a show. Of course, Joe said he wasn’t feeling too good himself… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-cocker-at-woodstock/293305/12 "2005-03-20T17:07:51Z")
> [@Sequent](#): > > …and then there’s the obvious: that Joe Cocker’s life as a performer, particularly around the time of Woodstock, probably included more than his fair share of drugs and alcohol. Before making allegations like that, you might want to know whether it’s true, you know, facts and the like. And if you don’t have the facts, don’t “probably” allege them.