Tag: With a Little Help from My Friends

Original v. Cover — #17 in a Series

Friends lending a helping hand. Pictures, Images and Photos

The featured song this week was originally written and performed in 1967 by one of the most successful rock groups of all time.  Even though this week’s selection should sound instantly familiar to most, it never reached the Billboard Top 40 charts. Cover versions of this song rose to #1 three times in the U.K., beginning in the 1960s and resurfacing during alternating decades to follow.  

Despite its lack of success as a single in this country, the album on which it appeared, for my money, is the best of all time, and was #1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Best Albums of All Time. The song itself was ranked at #304 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This week’s selection has also surfaced in various films and was used as the opening theme song for a popular television series during the late 1980s and early 1990s.