Let me set the stage: it’s April 8, 2000, and I’ve just watched Saturday Night Live with guest host Chris Walken. Two things have just happened. 1) I think I peed my pants a bit while watching the Behind the Music sketch on Blue Oyster Cult and 2) I just woke up to the fact that there is indeed a cowbell in “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper.” It’s subtle but it’s there and definitely adds to the beat of the song. As we know, fictionalized producer Bruce Dickinson can’t be wrong when he states that he “needs more cowbell.” But it got me wondering: why a cowbell? And what other rock songs used strange instruments to enhance the overall feel?
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Whether it was drummer Albert Bouchard or producer David Lucas who was actually responsible for playing the cowbell, it’s the hollow sound that sort of augments the drums. Add that to a driving guitar riff, a few “la, la, las”, and a catchy title about death and you’ve got one great song. They also never overdo the cowbell. Even in the breakdown, we hear the drums kick in lightly — but not the cowbell.
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Back to 1983. Jane Fonda is working out (and every girl in my high school is wearing leg warmers, whether they need them or not), and the Violent Femmes drop “Gone Daddy Gone.” A traditional rock song with not one but two xylophone solos! And on top of that, they don’t bury the xylophone in the mix, it leads the song. What other instruments would be as perfect listening to those high notes during the solos? The correct answer is none.
In 1986, Paul Simon surprised everyone when he released “You Can Call Me Al”, the first single off of Graceland. It’s actually based on a true story about Paul at a party with his wife where someone referred to him as “Al” and his wife as “Betty.” Paul brought a ton of new sounds to that album but the one that stands out is the penny whistle in this particular song. It’s really the horns that drive this masterpiece but around halfway through the song we do get a great penny whistle solo. It’s almost as if Paul was trying to figure out how many new sounds he could cram into one record. Graceland would go on to win Album of the Year at the Grammys.
In the mid-’70s AC/DC recorded “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll).” Like most AC/DC songs it was about partying except that this one features lead singer Bon Scott on… the bagpipes. Can you actually fit bagpipes into a rock song? AC/DC did. The call and response between the bagpipes and the guitar are tremendous and make perfect sense after hearing it.
Ever hear of an “ocarina”? It sounds like Shamu’s prom date but it’s a small egg-shaped wind instrument that you blow into with finger holes. It also happens to pop up in The Troggs’ version of “Wild Thing.” During the pauses in the song, the whistle effect kicks in nicely in the middle. The version recorded by the Troggs was a cover as the song had been recorded a year earlier in 1965 by the Wild Ones.
From xylophones to bagpipes to penny whistles, it’s great when musicians experiment with new sounds and new instruments. Because it’s like famed producer Bruce Dickinson said: “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is … more cowbell.”
-Robert Matvan
The ocarina in mentioned in the 1967 hit parody version of “Wild Thing” by “Senator Bobby,” which was actually the comedy troupe The Hardly Worthit Players imitating Senator Bobby Kennedy. The record vanished from radio following the Senator’s assassination, even though Bobby Kennedy himself had liked and endorsed the single. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LE0aToTtGY
Nice article. Always fun to see something a little different. Remember the bagpipes in “Mull of Kintyre” in Paul McCartney’s song?
Fans of Gentle Giant are well acquainted with an instrument the band invented — so it never appeared on a record or on stage with any other band — which they called a “Shulberry.” Their composition “Playing the Game,” for the album _The Power and the Glory_, was originally recorded with a marimba pounding a three-note chord in the intro and between verses. The band didn’t want to haul a marimba on tour for such a negligible purpose (they already played roughly 30 instruments onstage, from the familiar electronic guitars, keyboards, and drums to recorders, cello, violin, and vibraphone), so they had three strings attached to a small pickup that lead singer Derek Shulman could strum when they did the song live.