Song of the Day 3/19: Joe Cocker, “With a Little Help From My Friends”

The sad story of Wrecking Crew drummer Jim Gordon came to an end last week with his death at 77 in a prison hospital, where he spent nearly 40 years after being convicted of second-degree murder for killing his mother in a schizophrenic fit.

You might not know his name, but you’ve heard his work on hundreds of records across a wide variety of styles. John Lennon’s “Imagine,” Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman,” Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys,” Nilsson’s “Jump Into the Fire” — a full list would overload the server.

Gordon was just 17 when he went on tour with the Everly Brothers, and he quickly became a sought-after studio hand in Los Angeles. When Hal Blaine had more work than he could handle, he’d refer producers to Gordon, who eventually earned triple the union rate.

In 1969 he went on tour with Delaney & Bonnie, who then backed up Joe Cocker on his Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, where he and Jim Keltner doubled on drums. They’re both playing on this tune, but it’s Gordon who’s providing the frenzied fills.

That tour is where he met Eric Clapton, Carl Radle and Bobby Whitlock, and they formed Derek and the Dominoes in its aftermath. He earned a writing credit on “Layla” for the piano coda, which he wrote with his girlfriend at the time, Rita Coolidge, who went uncredited.

Gordon’s other composing credits came mostly on studio jams like Frank Zappa’s “Apostrophe’,” Traffic’s “Rock and Roll Stew”and Apple Jam on the third LP of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass.” His mental illness, exacerbated by his heavy use of drugs and alcohol, brought his career to a halt by the late ’70s. Haunted by voices, particularly his mothers, he murdered her in 1983, but was denied an insanity plea. He spent the rest of his life in prison, but his composing royalties, especially from “Layla,” kept him from indigence.