The Wonder Years remains a seminal coming-of-age show that pulled double duty: It was great if you were 12, as Fred Savage's Kevin Arnold started out on the ABC series. And we like to think it was great to watch if you grew up in the 1960s, as Kevin did, with all that teen angst set to classic rock tunes.
But the sometimes-quite-dramatic sitcom also had a running start—the opening credits were grainy home movies set to Joe Cocker's classic cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends." (And then later, when Kevin goes to high school, it's the same tune over images of historical events.)
For many of us, that sequence was the first time we ever heard Cocker's inimitable rasp. We may not have even realized for another year of so that the British singer, who died today of cancer at 70, was covering The Beatles.
Ultimately, there was plenty of room for both versions in our musical memory banks, so today let us not forget the major assist that The Wonder Years got from Joe Cocker. He may have even (in the show's less wondrous later years, at least) made the show seem deeper and even more momentous than it was.
Watch, listen and enjoy the chills.