Little Joe Cook, Peanuts Reprise!

• Listen to these songs on youtube: Peanuts 68
• Listen to these 45s in a Spotify playlist here with other 45s from the blog (though note, spotify doesn’t have all / many of the songs featured on the site so some playlists may be incomplete or feature slightly different versions than the original 45s I’m referring to here.
• Download the songs by clicking the titles above

Greetings from New England where we’re just getting our first tastes of the beautiful Fall weather including drinking some absolutely amazing crab apple juice from a local farm.  We’re here today with a favorite song of mine “Peanuts” though this 45 is an updated version re-done by the original artist himself Little Joe Cook.  

Little Joe Cook was born in South Philly and took the traditional route of starting in the church performing Gospel music before feeling the pull of the secular.  Little Joe’s name was given to him at a young age but stuck with him because of his very distinctive falsetto which served him so beautifully on the original version of Peanuts.  One of the things I love most about this record and Cook’s move from Gospel to secular  music was his innocence, Peanuts is truly a sweet, sweet song and doesn’t have any of the allure or mystique that say, Sam Cooke did when he left the Soul Stirrers.

If you don’t believe me, hear Joe tell it in his own words in this Boston Globe interview a year before he passed at the age of 90.

Other than Peanuts, Little Joe Cook had a number of great records on an assortment of labels but never regained the fame of peanuts.  In addition to his own career he shepherded the careers of The Sherrys of “Pop Pop Pop-Eye” fame and for a time was Tammi Terrell’s music coach.  Cook left South Philly for a life in Boston where he was a resident at The Cantab lounge.  I can only say, with utter regret, that despite growing up there, I never once saw him perform (probably because Cantab is 21+ and I left when I was 17).  Let that be a lesson to you, don’t miss your musical heroes performing on a weekly basis in your hometown.  Especially when they’re known to call the audience members “hamburgers” and “cheeseburgers” instead of “ladies and gentlemen.”

The original 1957 record was a hit and despite really loving it, I wouldn’t really feature it here.  But this updated version with its wild farted out bass lines and lead horn give the song a funkier and slightly off kilter vibe that I really dig are an invitation for another listen.  Despite the updated playing Little Joe’s signature voice is still on full display to keep you locked into the core beauty of the tune.

Hope you enjoy today’s record and we’ll see you next time, listening to who knows what!

-George / Snack Attack

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