More cowbell

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File:Walken-Cowbell.jpg
"The Bruce Dickinson" (Christopher Walken) demands "more cowbell."

"More cowbell" is an American pop culture catchphrase originally derived from an April 8, 2000 Saturday Night Live comedy sketch which fictionalized the recording of the song (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult. The sketch featured guest host Christopher Walken as music producer "The Bruce Dickinson" (as opposed to Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson) and regular cast member Will Ferrell, who wrote the sketch with playwright Donnell Campbell, as fictional cowbell player Gene Frenkle. The sketch also starred Chris Parnell as Eric Bloom, Jimmy Fallon as Albert Bouchard, Chris Kattan as Buck Dharma and Horatio Sanz as Joe Bouchard. The sketch is often considered one of the greatest SNL sketches ever made, and in many "best of" lists regarding SNL sketches, it is often placed in the top ten, being ranked #9 by Rolling Stone.[1]

Synopsis

The sketch is presented as an episode of VH1's Behind the Music documenting the band Blue Öyster Cult. It begins with what is said to be film from the 1976 recording session that produced the band's biggest hit, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The producer (played by Christopher Walken) introduces himself as "The Bruce Dickinson" and tells the band they have "what appears to be a dynamite sound."

The first take of the session begins soon after. The recording seems to be going well but the band stops playing after a few moments because the cowbell part is rather loud and distracting. Dickinson, to the surprise of most of the band, asks for "a little more cowbell" and suggests that the cowbell player, Gene Frenkle (Will Ferrell), "really explore the studio space this time."

Frenkle's exuberance in following this advice causes him to bump into his bandmates as he dances around the cramped studio, thrusting his pelvis wildly in all directions, and the band aborts another take. Dickinson enters the studio exasperated at wasting "two good tracks" and says that the second one "was even better than the first." Frenkle sheepishly agrees to tone down his performance in the spirit of cooperation. Dickinson warns Frenkle not to tone it down too much, as they're "gonna want the cowbell on this track." However, Frenkle passive-aggressively plays the cowbell very close to Eric Bloom (Chris Parnell)'s ear and fails to keep time with the rest of the band. Frenkle suddenly knocks over Bloom's microphone stand, ending the take prematurely. The rest of the band expresses frustration with Frenkle, but Dickinson remains focused only on getting more cowbell onto the track.

Frenkle then makes an impromptu speech to the rest of the band. He declares that Dickinson's stature lends a great deal of weight to his opinion about the cowbell part and that the last time Frenkle checked, they didn't have "a whole lot of songs that feature the cowbell" and therefore he would be "doing himself a disservice, and every member of the band" if he "didn't perform the hell out of this." At the climax of the sketch, Dickinson exclaims: "Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!" The band agrees to let Frenkle play the cowbell part his way, with Dickinson claiming they will be "wearing gold-plated diapers" when they are done with this take. When asked what he means by that, Bruce sternly comments, "Never question Bruce Dickinson!" As the band begins another take, the sketch ends with a freeze frame on Frenkle with the superimposed message: "In Memoriam: Gene Frenkle: 1950–2000."

The actors who appeared in the sketch had trouble keeping straight faces. They found Ferrell's acting, along with Walken's stone-faced performance, so funny that they were all on the verge of breaking up laughing and ruining the sketch several times.[2][3][4] On "Take Two," Walken can be seen through the booth glass, laughing, as Ferrell's shirt comes up, while he is dancing and playing the cowbell.

Comedy versus reality

The song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult does indeed feature a cowbell playing throughout the song. According to Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, the lead singer and author-composer of the song, the sketch accurately portrays the look of the band during the 1970s, but it inaccurately portrays some of the details of the actual recording:[5]:{{{3}}}

  • The sketch has the recording session taking place at "Sunshine Studios" in late 1976. In reality, the song was recorded at the Record Plant in New York City, in late 1975 or early 1976. (The album the song first appeared on, Agents of Fortune, was released in May of 1976.)
  • Parnell plays the group's lead singer, "Eric." While Eric Bloom was a member of the band, Roeser performed lead vocals for "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."[5]:{{{3}}}
  • Gene Frenkle is a fictional character invented for the sketch, although his appearance was modeled on Eric Bloom's appearance at the time. Despite the fact that Frenkle is fictional, fans occasionally expressed their sympathies to Blue Öyster Cult over his death.[5]
  • Christopher Walken portrays producer The Bruce Dickinson (not to be confused with the Iron Maiden vocalist of the same name). Bruce was not the actual producer of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The song was produced by David Lucas,[6] who discovered the band and produced their first album, and also Agents of Fortune and Spectres. Sandy Pearlman[7] was their long time manager and lyric writer. Murray Krugman[7] represented Columbia Records. Bruce Dickinson was a midlevel manager at Columbia Records whose name appears on a Blue Öyster Cult reissue CD and a greatest hits compilation as the "reissue producer." The SNL intern who was sent out to get the record got the Best Hits CD instead of the Agents of Fortune original CD.[8][9]
  • Producer David Lucas, on his website and in interviews when he was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, says that he was the one who played the cowbell.[8][9][10]
  • Eric Bloom played it on a rerecording of the song some years later,[11] but the original idea came from David Lucas, who went around the corner to his Warehouse Recording Studio on W. 46th St, got his cowbell, and went back to the Record Plant and played the part.[6]

Reappearance on Saturday Night Live

On May 14, 2005, on an episode that Will Ferrell hosted, the Gene Frenkle character made a reappearance on the set of Saturday Night Live as musical guest Queens of the Stone Age played their first song of the night, "Little Sister" – which features a jam block, an instrument similar to a cowbell. In his Gene Frenkle costume, Ferrell played the song's jam block part using a large cowbell along with the band, drawing much applause.

Promotions for the April 5, 2008 Christopher Walken/Panic! At the Disco episode of Saturday Night Live referenced the "More Cowbell" sketch. The cowbell did not appear during the actual episode.

At the end of the May 16, 2009 Will Ferrell/Green Day episode, Green Day performed "East Jesus Nowhere" with Ferrell on the cowbell. Ferrell's appearance was unrehearsed and it was unknown to Green Day that Ferrell would appear. Additionally, Ferrell was unfamiliar with the song and not aware of the sound-break near its end. As the sound-break continued, Ferrell elaborately played single "final" cowbell beats, expecting the lights to fade, then began to leave the stage. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong called him back, saying, "Wait, god damn it!" and began his vocal. Ferrell came to the microphone and asked, "Wait, is this song still going on?" and Armstrong answered, "Yes," laughing.[12]

Sketch performers

Comments by individuals associated with the sketch

Will Ferrell 2007: "The cowbell sketch, I'd written it early in the first half of the year...it just didn't get picked for whatever reason."[13]

Jimmy Fallon 2007: "The cowbell sketch in dress [rehearsal] wasn't as funny. And then Will changed his shirt, he wore a smaller shirt."[13]

Christopher Walken 2004: "I hear about it everywhere I go. It's been YEARS, and all anybody brings up is 'COW-bell.' I guess you never know what's gonna click."[14]

Christopher Walken 2007: "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."[15]

Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, Blue Öyster Cult co-founder, lead guitarist and songwriter of "Don't Fear The Reaper," 2005: "We didn't know it was coming. We all thought it was phenomenal. We're huge Christopher Walken fans. I've probably seen it 20 times and I'm still not tired of it."[5] as well as “We never really thought much about the cowbell, until then. Now, we have to make sure we have the cowbell!”[16]

Eric Bloom, Blue Öyster Cult lead singer 2001: "I even have it on tape, and it still pretty much blows me away. Buck (Dharma) has it on MP3 and we listened to it in his car one day. It's almost as funny to listen to it as watching it."[11]

Bruce Dickinson, reissue producer: “I usually, when I get that question, I say yes, they’re referring to me, but I’m not the guy who really produced the record. And of course that confuses them a little more.”[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ SNL Green Day Ferrell performance
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Saturday Night Live in the ‘90s: Pop Culture Nation – May 6, 2007 TV special, Broadcast Video Inc.
  14. ↑ "Nobody Does It Like Walken" by Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel, October 25, 2004, pg. E1
  15. ↑ "Q&A With Christopher Walken," by Jeff Gordinier and Tom Betterton, Details.com Retrieved 2010-01-09
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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