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Turns out the SNL "more cowbell" sketch was somewhat based in fact.
"Every time I heard '(Don't Fear) The Reaper,' by Blue Öyster Cult, I would hear the faint cowbell in the background and wonder, 'What is that guy's life like?'" explained Ferrell. And although the sketch was cut the first several times it was pitched for inclusion in an episode, the idea lingered. "I held on to it for, I think, three months, until Christopher Walken was the host, and rewrote it for him. His odd rhythms fit so perfectly. He gave it that special sauce."
Naturally, word quickly filtered back to the members of Blue Öyster Cult, who were in the midst of a resurgence of sorts. Two years before the "More Cowbell" sketch aired, they'd released their first album of new material in a decade, 1998's Heaven Forbid, and were prepping their next effort, 2001's Curse of the Hidden Mirror. While neither of those releases enjoyed the sales Blue Öyster Cult drew in their heyday, they continued to tour steadily — and while Ferrell's version of the "Reaper" session was wholly imagined, it also wasn't too terribly far from the truth.
"Ironically, it was similar to what happened in the skit," admitted Blue Öyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard. "We had put a whole bunch of overdubs on the song, and one of them was Randy Brecker — he put a flugelhorn part on it, or a trumpet or something, in the middle part ... we didn't like it ... so I said 'Hey, I want to do a triangle in that part. That's what I want — I really hear a triangle in my head."
According to Bouchard, it was composer and jingle creator David Lucas who made the fateful call to add a cowbell instead of a triangle. "'I just want to hear that sound,'" Bouchard recalled Lucas insisting. "I said 'Okay,' so I play it, and I'm like 'Yeah, it's not working,' and he's like 'Oh, well, put some tape around it,' so I put some tape around it ... I used, like, a timpani mallet, and everybody's like 'Yes, that's it!' So it's funny that [Ferrell] even noticed it, because it was mixed very low. You don't even really notice it in the track."
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/snl-more-cowbell/
12 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
And pretty much any song that uses cowbell for that matter. 
‘More Barn!’ Neil Young confirms awesome story about playing ‘Harvest’ for Graham Nash
<SNIP>
As the myth goes, Nash was at Young’s ranch just south of San Francisco when Young asked him if he wanted to hear something. (That something would become Young’s now famous 1972 “Harvest” album, which features the track “Heart of Gold.”) Nash, of course, said yes and suggested going into Young’s studio. That wasn’t Young’s plan.
“He said, ‘Get into the rowboat,’” Nash explained on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2013. “I said, ‘Get into the rowboat?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to go out into the middle of the lake.’”
The two row out on the lake, with Nash assuming Young brought a cassette player and headphones with him.
“Oh, no,” said Nash on NPR. “He has his entire house as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker. And I heard ‘Harvest’ coming out of these two incredibly large loud speakers louder than hell. It was unbelievable. Elliot Mazer, who produced Neil, produced ‘Harvest,’ came down to the shore of the lake and he shouted out to Neil, ‘How was that, Neil?’”
The best part is Young’s apparent response to the situation. As Nash explained, “I swear to God, Neil Young shouted back, ‘More barn!’”
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/more_barn_neil_young_confirms_awesome_story_about_playing_harvest_for_graha
<SNIP>
As the myth goes, Nash was at Young’s ranch just south of San Francisco when Young asked him if he wanted to hear something. (That something would become Young’s now famous 1972 “Harvest” album, which features the track “Heart of Gold.”) Nash, of course, said yes and suggested going into Young’s studio. That wasn’t Young’s plan.
“He said, ‘Get into the rowboat,’” Nash explained on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2013. “I said, ‘Get into the rowboat?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to go out into the middle of the lake.’”
The two row out on the lake, with Nash assuming Young brought a cassette player and headphones with him.
“Oh, no,” said Nash on NPR. “He has his entire house as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker. And I heard ‘Harvest’ coming out of these two incredibly large loud speakers louder than hell. It was unbelievable. Elliot Mazer, who produced Neil, produced ‘Harvest,’ came down to the shore of the lake and he shouted out to Neil, ‘How was that, Neil?’”
The best part is Young’s apparent response to the situation. As Nash explained, “I swear to God, Neil Young shouted back, ‘More barn!’”
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/more_barn_neil_young_confirms_awesome_story_about_playing_harvest_for_graha
http://www.longlivevinyl.net/classic-album-neil-young-harvest/
