I'm TOTALLY gonna listen for a cow bell!

That is what I said to myself when I heard "Jump" by Van Halen on the radio this afternoon. I know what you're thinking, why was she listening for a cow bell? I was listening for the elusive cow bell because while poking around Wikipedia, I found a list of songs that feature the cow bell. According to that list, "Jump" is one of those songs. I totally heard it too...or maybe it was the cymbals. I don't know. Anyway if you're too lazy to click the link, let me give you a run down of songs on the list...

1. Imagine by John Lennon
2. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (what doesn't that song have?!)
3. Kashmir by Led Zeppelin
4. Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses (Yes, GnR used the cowbell)
5. Burning Love by Elvis (you can hear it really well on the song)
6. Rio by Duran Duran
7. Rock of Ages and Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard (and a few other songs)
8. Hit Me Baby One More Time by Ms. Britney Spears herself
9. We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel
10. Hard Day's Night by The Beatles (They got a little cow bell happy, 8 songs feature it)
    

So there's a few of them. The website also has a (much shorter) list of songs that should have featured the cow bell. That list includes "Careless Whisper" by Wham! Hahaha. I love you, George Michael and your song is fine without the cow bell. But here is my list of songs that I think should have featured the bell...

• Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd - As much as I love the 17min. long guitar solo, I think it would have been better with a cowbell.


• My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas - I think Fergie would be taken a lot more seriously as a solo artist if she had talked the Peas into using a cow bell here.


• Ridin' Dirty by some rappers, I don't know who they are - This song needs all the help it can get.

That's all I've got.

But now I'm thinking, how on earth does one decide that a song needs a cow bell? I can imagine the Stones in the studio and Mick Jagger says something like, "Wait, wait. Something's not right here. Something's missing." And Keith Richards says, "Maybe we should use a cow bell. The Beatles are doing it." And they all run out to buy a cow bell. Is that how it happens? I guess I'll never know. And I can't believe that I just wrote this super long blog post about a frickin cow bell.