Joe Cocker!

Of all the rock stars, past or present, you could meet, Joe Cocker probably ranks with the two or three least interesting conversationalists. Not that he’s not a great performer; it’s just, what do you write about him? He’s a hell of a nice guy, I mean he really is. I like the dude, I love his singing but there ain’t that much there to talk about. Except that he sure does sing good.

He comes on like a slovenly pipefitter. The Cocker aura of bravado, even with his recent beard, comes across as secondary to his amenable but prosaic self. His manner is totally British workingclass. Which, mind you, is a hell of an important and a noble breed of person. But, unlike the Peter-Townshend-John-Lennon art school intelligentsia who sort of make English rock and roll dudes a breed apart, Cocker comes on like Ruben Sano (at least more Ruben than Tommy/Arthur.)