“Cry Me a River” — Joe Cocker’s remake of a 1950’s torch song

 

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Joe Cocker, the flamboyant British rocker who died yesterday at the age of 70, was best known for his gravelly voice and charismatic onstage personality, but his career was especially noteworthy due to his successful model of interpreting popular songs of the day. The most obvious example – the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends” performed before hundreds of thousands at Woodstock in 1969 – was his signature career achievement, a performance Paul McCartney yesterday called  “mind-blowing,” one that he was “forever grateful for him for having done that.” One could make the case that Cocker’s appearance at Woodstock and his filmed performance of that tune was indeed a defining moment of the rock era.

Cocker also successfully remade Arthur Hamilton’s “Cry Me a River,” a 1953 torch song originally composed for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in Pete Kelly’s Blues, the Jack Webb film in which Peggy Lee portrayed an alcoholic jazz singer – a role she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The piece wound up on the cutting room floor and was subsequently offered around to other producers – including, according to several sources, Columbia Records’ head of A&R Mitch Miller, who turned it down because he objected to the line “You told me love was too plebeian.”

It wound up at Liberty Records (eventual home of The Chipmunks), where chairman Simon Waronker hung his hopes for his fledgling label on sensual vocalist Julie London.   In addition to London, the 1955 recording featured Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Leatherwood on bass, but it was her performance of it in the 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It that exposed the piece as a popular song, hitting #9 on Billboard. Ella eventually recorded it in 1961 (on the album, Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!), and renditions by the likes of Barbara Streisand, Diana Krall, and Michael Buble have kept the piece relevant over time.

Hard to imagine a song with this pedigree would end up up in the hands of Cocker, who recorded the song live during 1970’s legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, which included fellow flamboyant Leon Russell.

Here are three incredibly diverse versions of this song:

A 1964 televised performance of Julie London — lounging on a settee in her plunging cocktail dress

 

From 1975, Ella Fitzgerald performs the song with guitarist Joe Pass

Joe Cocker’s 1970 rendition, accompanied by Leon Russell

Cocker’s official 45 version of the song from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen album

As a bonus, here is Cocker’s Woodstock performance of “With a Little Help From My Friends”

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R.I.P Joe Cocker

 

Joe Cocker’s New York Times obituary by Ben Sisario

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The lyrics to “Cry Me a River,” by Arthur Hamilton

 

Now you say you’re lonely
You cried the long night through
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried a river over you

Now you say you’re sorry
For being so untrue
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried, a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember, all that you said
You told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and

Now you say, you say you love me
Well, just to prove that you do
Come on and cry me a river, cry me a river
‘Cause I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, remember, all that you said
Told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and

Now, now you say you love me
Well, just to prove you do
Come on and cry, cry, cry me a river, cry me a river
‘Cause I cried a river over you

If my pillow could talk, imagine what it would have said
Could it be a river of tears I cried in bed?
So you can cry me a river
Daddy, go ahead and cry that river
‘Cause I cried, how I cried a river over you
How I cried a river over you