Extra Song of the Week – Peanuts, Down at the Cantab, Little Joe Cook

IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Little Joe Cook died this week at the age of 91. Cook had one Top 40 hit with the doo-wop influenced “Peanuts” in 1957. You can read his full obit here:

Little Joe Cook obituary – Boston Globe

So why would I take the time to write an extra SotW for an old guy from the ‘50s that is barely a footnote in rock and roll history? Quite simply, because he was ours.

You see back in the 1980s BC (before children) my friends and I used to frequent the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA where Little Joe held a long residency. He could bring together the entire community – old and young, black and white, rich and poor, preppy and punk, townies and tourists – like no other performer.

He would play “Peanuts” several times a night and the crowd loved it.

He would work the crowd to get everyone “cookin” on the dance floor. It could be a zero degree, February night but it would be 100 in the Cantab. We would walk out of the club into the cold so drenched in sweat that you hair would freeze on your head.

Inside the Cantab it sounded like this:

So rest in peace, Little Joe. You touched a million lives.

Enjoy… until next week.

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