Walking the Cow

"Walking the Cow" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston from his 1983 album Hi, How Are You. The title was inspired by an illustration on a wrapper for Blue Bell ice cream depicting a young girl attempting to lead a reluctant cow by its reins.[1]

"Walking the Cow"
Song by Daniel Johnston
from the album Hi, How Are You
LanguageEnglish
Released1983
GenreIndie rock, lo-fi, outsider
Length3:35
LabelStress Records
Songwriter(s)Daniel Johnston

Johnston recorded an updated version of the song on his 2010 album Beam Me Up![2][3]

Covers

Austin band The Reivers included their version of the song as a bonus track on the 1988 CD release of Translate Slowly, their 1984 debut album.[4]

During Johnston's wave of popularity in the early 1990s, several musicians released covers of "Walking the Cow." Mike Watt's project Firehose included a version on Flyin' the Flannel (1991). Kathy McCarty of Glass Eye included it on her 1994 Daniel Johnston tribute album Dead Dog's Eyeball.[5] Also in 1994, the Austin surf-rock band Whirled Peas released a version on their second and final album, War and Peas. In October of that year, Pearl Jam covered the song in a performance at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit concert, and this subsequently became available on the bootleg album In Rock We Trust.[6]

Watt performed the song on a 1995 solo tour; a recording opens his live album Ring Spiel Tour '95, released in 2016. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder used the song to open every show of his 2008 solo tour.[7]

It was covered by A Camp on their 2001 album A Camp.[8]

On the 2004 tribute album The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, TV on the Radio contributed their cover of the song.

On September 11, 2020 — the one-year anniversary of Johnston's death — Electric Lady Studios released a video tribute album, Honey I Sure Miss You, via YouTube. It included a cover of "Walking the Cow" by the indie-pop band Lucius.[9]

References
  1. Yazdani, Tarssa; Goede, Dan (2006). Hi, How Are You?: The Life, Art & Music of Daniel Johnston. San Francisco: Last Gasp. p. 56. ISBN 978-086719-667-2.
  2. Houle, Zachary (June 18, 2010). "Daniel Johnston and BEAM: Beam Me Up!!". PopMatters. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  3. Dorof, Jakob (April 2013). "Daniel Johnston – Beam Me Up!". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  4. Jason Cohen, "A Songwriter's Struggle", Austin Chronicle, September 18, 1992, reprinted in The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology (University of Texas Press, 2011), ISBN 978-0292722705, p. 114. Excerpts available at Google Books
  5. Chris Walters, "Kathy McCarty: From Glass Eye to Dead Dog's Eyeball", Austin Chronicle, September 16, 1994, reprinted in The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology (University of Texas Press, 2011), ISBN 978-0292722705, p. 140. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  6. "Answers – The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". Answers.com.
  7. "Flashback: Pearl Jam Cover Daniel Johnston's 'Walking the Cow'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  8. "Walking the Cow Lyrics – A Camp". LyricsBox.
  9. "Honey I Sure Miss You". YouTube. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
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