Chicks love cowbell

brady said:
So what songs in your setlist feature the cowbell anyway?

I've been with a blues band for a little bit now and haven't had the opportunity to bring it out yet. I was thinking if we did some of the same songs then I'll have to try to get my own little groupies...
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Right now I'm plating three:

American Band
Honky Tonk Woman
Mississippi Queen

Not sure they would fit your blues band song list though?....... terry
 
brady said:
So what songs in your setlist feature the cowbell anyway?

I've been with a blues band for a little bit now and haven't had the opportunity to bring it out yet. I was thinking if we did some of the same songs then I'll have to try to get my own little groupies...
Click to expand...

Truth is, my main gigging band is the trio, and in our hearts we are a Blues band, but in reality, we play what people can dance to, in most places. So, not that this helps with the Blues vein, I don't really think there is much cowbell in straight up Blues songs, I can't recall any actually I use the cowbell in.

That said, I have a large bell and a small bell.

Large bell:
Creedence's "Born on the Bayou" and "Down on the Corner"
Santana's "Smooth"
Santana's "Black Magic Woman"
Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools"
Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally"

Small bell:

"Standin on Shaky Ground"
The Beatle's "Baby You Can Drive My Car"
The Stone's "Honky Tonk Women"
Al Jackson's (I think) "Take Me To The River"
Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle With You"

There might be one or two more that I can't recall right now. But no cowbell in the Blues generally speaking.
 
I like cowbell, not that that proves anything. All those great cowbell songs you listed ... and Free's Alright Now was a classic. Loved Tom Robinson's Powers in the Darkness. Purple's You Fool No One ... that Joe Cocker tune ...

Larry, I was looking at Bon's cowbell thread and you had a list in that one (about a year ago):

Black Magic Woman
Take Me To The River
Chain of Fools
Born on a Bayou
Suzie Q
Standing on Shaky Ground
Low Rider
Honky Tonk Women
American Band
Mississippi Queen

Same band, new setlist?
 
Anon La Ply said:
I like cowbell, not that that proves anything. All those great cowbell songs you listed ... and Free's Alright Now was a classic. Loved Tom Robinson's Powers in the Darkness. Purple's You Fool No One ... that Joe Cocker tune ...

Larry, I was looking at Bon's cowbell thread and you had a list in that one (about a year ago):

Black Magic Woman
Take Me To The River
Chain of Fools
Born on a Bayou
Suzie Q
Standing on Shaky Ground
Low Rider
Honky Tonk Women
American Band
Mississippi Queen

Same band, new setlist?
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See, you're a chick and you like cowbell. Thanks for supporting my position lol.

Well, a year ago I was in the same bands I'm in now, and still play the same tunes, with 2 exceptions, I don't play Mississippi Queen or American Band in the bands I'm in now. They were in my short lived rock cover band quartet that I left in 2011. Scumbag guitarist dissed my wife really bad. She didn't deserve it.


I forgot about Suzie Q. We still do that. Also, I left out "Walk the Dog". I use a bell in that one too because it's a fun song. Cowbells are fun. You just can't play a cowbell on a depressing song. I'm pretty sure that's a rule printed on the side of the cowbell box stating such. Steve Martin says the same thing about the banjo. If you put a cowbell to a banjo song, I think you might rip a hole in the space time continuum lol.



Long live the cowbell.
 
Good stuff, Larry.
The general population can't resist the allure of the cowbell. The sound is just downright contagious, especially to a drinking, and dancing bar crowd. I've even seen it make people laugh when then heard it. I use two LP salsa cowbells to the left of my hi hat (along with a plastic tamborine), and use it as one of my "secret weapons" to make people want to dance.
Two prominent cowbell tracks that feature it, killin' every time
Nelly-Hot in Here
EMF-Unbelievable
Last weekend I had a compliment from one of our female fan regulars, who said to me "I like when you play, you always make my friends and I dance"....a great feeling. But I have to respond....Dunno, must be the COWBELL! ha ha
 
Another one - Motley Hoople's Once Bitten Twice Shy.

larryace said:
See, you're a chick and you like cowbell. Thanks for supporting my position lol.
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Small sample group, Lar. So far there's there's the wasted woman at your gig with the cowbell fixation and me.

larryace said:
Cowbells are fun. You just can't play a cowbell on a depressing song.
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Not depressing, but angry - Queen's Liar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7rqB9E_0M. Tom Robinson's Power in the Darkness is pretty dark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFIFRX4II5Q though when I saw him live many years ago he was the second happiest frontman I've seen (after John Mayall) - big smile and hooning around the whole time (with cowbell feature at 2:49).

Actually, many cowbell songs are pretty dark lyrically ... Black Magic Woman, Chain of Fools, Standing on Shaky Ground, Low Rider, Honky Tonk Women etc

Is there a deeper darker side to the cowbell that somehow slipped under the radar ... ?
 
Anon La Ply said:
Another one - Motley Hoople's Once Bitten Twice Shy.



Small sample group, Lar. So far there's there's the wasted woman at your gig with the cowbell fixation and me.



Not depressing, but angry - Queen's Liar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7rqB9E_0M. Tom Robinson's Power in the Darkness is pretty dark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFIFRX4II5Q though when I saw him live many years ago he was the second happiest frontman I've seen (after John Mayall) - big smile and hooning around the whole time (with cowbell feature at 2:49).

Actually, many cowbell songs are pretty dark lyrically ... Black Magic Woman, Chain of Fools, Standing on Shaky Ground, Low Rider, Honky Tonk Women etc

Is there a deeper darker side to the cowbell that somehow slipped under the radar ... ?
Click to expand...

Black Magic Woman, dark? Honky Tonk Women, dark? More like a celebration of the feminine allure IMO. (Chain of Fools wasn't recorded with the c/b, IIRC, I just felt moved to use one in it. The leader uses the opp to segue into "Born on the Bayou").... Shaky Ground" dark? OK maybe a little, but the music is fun fun fun! Not sure it was recorded with a c/b either. I think it works well during the solo, or the chorus.

I take some latitude with the bell and use it where I see fit, because it's like instant fun dude.
 
larryace said:
Black Magic Woman, dark? Honky Tonk Women, dark? More like a celebration of the feminine allure IMO. (Chain of Fools wasn't recorded with the c/b, IIRC, I just felt moved to use one in it. The leader uses the opp to segue into "Born on the Bayou").... Shaky Ground" dark? OK maybe a little, but the music is fun fun fun! Not sure it was recorded with a c/b either. I think it works well during the solo, or the chorus.

I take some latitude with the bell and use it where I see fit, because it's like instant fun dude.
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Black Magic Woman lyrics:

Yes, don't turn your back on me, baby
Don't mess around with your tricks
Don't turn your back on me, baby
'cause you might just wake up my magic sticks

I'll grant you Honky Tonk Women, though it could also be seen as about women who are lost souls looking for love in all the wrong places (like anywhere in MJ's vicinity at that time).

People's amusement at cowbells is a funny thing. After all, wood and temple blocks are similarly inelegant yet not joked about. I wonder how much of it is the name? There's something funny about cows, who starred in Larson's Far Side cartoons. Kind of dumb, harmless and gormless who chew their cud and fart methane constantly, have big pink ungainly udders, and they wear bells that go 'clonk'.
 
In my old cover band I played cowbell to:

Gimme Three Steps
Hard Day's Night
Old Time Rock 'N' Roll (I know it's not in the original but it works for the break)
For Your Love (same as with Old Time Rock 'N' Roll)
 
larryace said:
I think you're stretching it a little there AZ lol.

I don't think I can recall many instances lately where I played cowbell to an empty dance floor.
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What song/beats were you using it in? Always looking for a way to get them going.
 
A few weeks ago, a buddy posted a picture of his little jazz kit with 5 cowbells.

Now I know why he had 5! lol
 
5 cowbells, pfftt, he's obviously compensating lol.
 
From the sound of this thread I get the impression that many here don't have a cowbell at their disposal when they need it. It's an integral part of my kit, my associations have proved that chicks dig cowbell. Duh ;)
 
Don't forget the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie". My band plays this song and it has cowbell in it. Great dance tune with or without the cowbell however...
 
like so many aux perc. pieces, CB seems rarely implemented in an interesting way.

Anyone care to champion a bit 'o CB playing that they think is truly interesting?
 
Otto said:
like so many aux perc. pieces, CB seems rarely implemented in an interesting way.

Anyone care to champion a bit 'o CB playing that they think is truly interesting?
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I think the point of this thread is: It may not be very interesting for us drummers, but chicks dig it.
Nuff said?
 
Otto said:
like so many aux perc. pieces, CB seems rarely implemented in an interesting way.

Anyone care to champion a bit 'o CB playing that they think is truly interesting?
Click to expand...

Anything by Stanton Moore...
 
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