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Say it now: I got a fever and the only prescription is…more cowbell!
When Blue Oyster Cult plays the South Florida Fair on Thursday night, don’t be surprised to hear cries of “More cowbell!,” in honor of the classic Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell skit on Saturday Night Live.
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper is the song everybody knows that isn’t a stone-cold fan of BOC. It’s one of the classics of classic rock, makes the list of great rock songs of all time, has been played in countless movies and TV shows and proves one thing definitively: Write one great song and you can live off it forever.
Or even better, have it immortalized in one classic SNL sketch and you can live off it forever.
10 Things You Need To Know About (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult and “More Cowbell.”
1. It’s not the cowbell that makes the song: It’s that sinuous, monster guitar riff that opens the song. Nobody can forget that, or the ripping solo on the album-length version.
2. That riff is courtesy of lead guitarist and singer “Buck Dharma” (real name: Donald Roeser). Roeser was the only band member who took up a manager’s idea to come up with nicknames. Buck really likes nicknames. He nicknamed his guitar “Cheeseburger.”
3. Yes, there really is cowbell on (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. It’s just not as wild as the SNL skit makes it out to be. (And Ferrell’s character, Gene Frenkle, wasn’t really a BOC member.)
4. Christopher Walken can’t escape the cowbell. “I was eating in a restaurant in Singapore, and an Asian couple was at the next table, and the guy turned to me and he said, ‘Chris, you know what this salad needs?’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘More cowbell.’ Recently a guy asked me if I would say ‘More cowbell’ on his answering machine. And I did.”
5. The members of Blue Oyster Cult are eternally grateful. Says Roeser of the skit: “I’ve probably seen it 20 times and I’m still not tired of it.”
6. Blue Oyster Cult sells cowbell merchandise at their shows, such as “Got Cowbell” in a spoof of the “Got Milk” ads.
7. Other great songs with cowbell: Mississippi Queen, by Mountain, Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones, Low Rider by War and We’re An American Band by Grand Funk Railroad.
8. “I Need More Cowbell” was a category on Jeopardy!
9. While the song is about the Grim Reaper (aka death) and it namechecks Romeo and Juliet, Buck Dharma insists it’s not about offing yourself. “I was actually kind of appalled when I first realized that some people were seeing it as an advertisement for suicide or something that was not my intention at all. It’s basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners.”
10. (No, we don’t) know why the song title is in parentheses. (Probably because) it’s cooler that way.
Loading ...BLUE OYSTER CULT
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Pepsi Stage, South Florida Fair
Information: (561) 793-0333 or southfloridafair.com
Source: Wikipedia
I know in the early 1970′s I attended a BOC concert at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, but I have absolutely no memory of it, must of been some GOOD STUFF! Saw the Dead there twice and I can remember those concerts, but I must have overdone The Cowbell for BOC.
Walkin is one of the best actors around, BOC and SNL suck. SNL has not been funny since the 1970′s. Why do we laugh at things that aren’t funny. Peer group pressure? Who knows. I just remember when they(SNL) were funny.
The 70′s called and they want their cowbell back.
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