Yo quiero vaca bell!

In 2000, a skit appeared on Saturday Night Live depicting a 1976 recording session of the rock band Blue Oyster Cult. The band is recording its biggest hit, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and Christopher Walken plays a music producer who encourages a fictional member of the band, played by Will Ferrell, to better use his talent for playing the cowbell. Ferrell, whose character's name is Gene Frenkle, is already playing the cowbell distractingly loud, but Walken, whose character's name is Bruce Dickinson, eggs him on by telling the band, "I gotta have more cowbell!"

I missed the skit when it aired on April 8, 2000, but I saw it on YouTube a couple of years ago. I never realized the cowbell in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" before the skit, but have since kept an ear out for the use of cowbells in other songs. Surprisingly, the cowbell has been used extensively in the music industry. Below are several I have "discovered" over the years. See if you can add to the list.

"A Hard Day's Night" The Beatles
"Drive My Car" The Beatles
"Pink Houses" John Cougar Mellencamp
"Couldn't Get It Right" Climax Blues Band
"The Logical Song" Supertramp
"Get This Party Started" Pink

According to FIQL (www.fiql.com), there are at least 150 songs that feature a cowbell. Hit songs by artists like Aerosmith ("Sweet Emotion"), Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Down On The Corner"), Asia ("Heat Of The Moment"), The Dixie Chicks ("Goodbye Earl"), The B-52s ("Love Shack"), AC/DC ("You Shook Me (All Night Long)"), The Bee Gees ("Jive Talkin'"), Billy Idol ("White Wedding"), Bon Jovi ("It's My Life"), Britney Spears ("Hit Me Baby One More Time"), Bruce Springsteen ("Born To Run"), and The Carpenters ("Superstar"), to name a few, feature the cowbell.

Fascinating instrument. I wonder why they don't teach it in the public schools.