“Feeling Alright” by Joe Cocker

Joe Cocker took "Feeling Alright", a Dave Mason song from Traffic's 1968 album, and turned it into a swaggering highlight of his 1969 album With a Little Help From My Friends. The original never made the charts; Cocker's version did in America, and it's not hard to hear why.

It's a loose, rolling groove: Artie Butler's piano leading the charge, Carol Kaye's bass and Paul Humphries' drums locked tight, David Cohen on guitar and Laudir de Oliveira shaking maracas. Up top, Merry Clayton, Brenda Holloway and Patrice Holloway throw gospel-hot answers back at Cocker's gravel-throated howl, and Tony Visconti mixed the lot. Decades later, both versions turned up in the 2012 film Flight.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.