How "With a Little Help From Our Friend" went from The Beatles anthem to The Wonder Years theme song

Mel Magazine

"The Beatles have so many classic songs, and so many of them have been covered by other artists, but it’s rare that those remakes outshine the originals," says Tim Grierson, adding: "But the most prominent exception might be 'With a Little Help From My Friends,' which fit in nicely on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and was then turned into a smash by Joe Cocker a few years later. But the song has actually had a few second lives — it keeps finding new ways to reenter the zeitgeist. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that 'With a Little Help From My Friends' is back again, kind of, because of a new version of The Wonder Years, which premiered (Wednesday) night on ABC. It’s a different family this time, but the same era. The 1980s original was a nostalgic look back at the 1960s, and this rebooted Wonder Years conjures up its own nostalgia — not just for that era of peace and love, but also for the Fred Savage series and its theme song. For anyone who came of age with The Wonder Years, you can picture the opening credits and Cocker’s raw vocals all as a piece. I don’t even need to drop a YouTube clip in here — it’s already in your head right now. But long before that happened, someone had to write the song. And then someone else had to bring his own take to it."