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Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper 1976 (Studio Version)





"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band's 1976 album Agents of Fortune. The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, deals with eternal love and the inevitability of death. Dharma wrote the song while picturing an early death for himself.


Released as an edited single (omitting the slow building interlude in the original), the song was Blue Öyster Cult's highest chart success, reaching #7 in Cash Box and #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1976.







The song features prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument, overdubbed on the original recording. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered the producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, play the cowbell: "Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together." However, producer David Lucas says that he played it,[13] a claim supported by bandmember Eric Bloom


The song was memorialized in the April 2000 Saturday Night Live comedy sketch "More Cowbell". The six-minute sketch presents a fictionalized version of the recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" on an episode of VH1's Behind the Music. Will Ferrell wrote the sketch and played Gene Frenkle, an overweight cowbell player. "Legendary" producer Bruce Dickinson, played by Christopher Walken, asked Frenkle to "really explore the studio space" and up the ante on his cowbell playing.






Lyrics


All our times have come Here but now they're gone Seasons don't fear the reaper Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are

Come on baby, don't fear the reaper Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper We'll be able to fly, don't fear the reaper Baby I'm your man

La, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la

Valentine is done Here but now they're gone Romeo and Juliet Are together in eternity, Romeo and Juliet 40, 000 men and women everyday, Like Romeo and Juliet 40, 000 men and women everyday, Redefine happiness Another 40, 000 coming everyday, We can be like they are

Come on baby, don't fear the reaper Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper We'll be able to fly, don't fear the reaper Baby I'm your man

La, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la

Love of two is one Here but now they're gone Came the last night of sadness And it was clear she couldn't go on

Then the door was open and the wind appeared The candles blew then disappeared The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid

Come on baby, and she had no fear And she ran to him, then they started to fly They looked backward and said goodby, she had become like they are She had taken his hand, she had become like they are Come on baby, don't fear the reaper



Songwriters: Donald Roeser (Don't Fear) The Reaper lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC





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