"Milk Cow Blues" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

song written and originally recorded by Kokomo Arnold in September 1934. In 1935 and 1936, he recorded four sequels designated "Milk Cow Blues No. 2" through No. 5. The song made Arnold a star, and was widely adapted by artists in the blues,

Western swing Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

idioms.

Kokomo Arnold song

Lyrical themes

The lyrics of the Kokomo Arnold record combine the threads of: * Blues on awakening – :Good morning, Blues Blues how do you do? :Do mighty well this morning, can't get along with you. *The loss of a dairy cow – :Says, I woke up this a-morning and I looked outdoors :Says, I knowed my mamlish milk cow pretty mama, Lord, by the way she lowed :Lord, if you see my milk cow, buddy, I said, please drive her home :Says, I ain't had no milk and butter, mama, Lord, since a-my cow been gone * A breakup with his lover – :How can I do right, baby when you won't do right yourself? :Lord, if my good gal quits me well, I don't want nobody else *A warning that she will have regrets – :Now you can read out your hymnbook, preach out your Bible :Fall down on your knees and pray, the good Lord to help you :Because you going to need you going to need my help some day :Mama if you can't quit your sinning please quit your lowdown ways. These four themes are found in the lyrics of later versions of the song. The metaphor of a milk cow for a female lover was already established in recordings with the same title (see below). It is also found in "Mean Tight Mama" by Sarah Martin in 1928: :Now my hair is nappy and I don’t wear no clothes of silk :But the cow that’s black and ugly has often got the sweetest milk and in "My Black Mama Part 1" by

Son House Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing. After years of hostility to secular music, as a prea ...

in 1930, also in a four-line verse, but one formed by repetition: :Well, you see my milk cow tell her to hurry home :I ain’t had no milk since that cow been gone :If you see my milk cow tell her to hurry home :Yeah, I ain’t had no milk since that cow been gone

Melody

Arnold uses basically two melodic structures, according to the number of lines in a verse. For three-line verses such as the following, he sings a melody interspersed by guitar in the first two lines: :All in good morning, I said, “Blues, how do you do?” :All in good morning, I said, “Blues, how do you do?” :You’re mighty rare this mornin’, can’t get along with you. For four line verses such as the following, he sings the first two lines to a melody uninterrupted by guitar: :Takes a rockin’ chair to rock, mommy, a rubber ball to roll, :Takes a tall cheesin’ black, pretty mommy, to pacify my soul. :Lord, I don’t feel welcome, please, no place I go, :Oh that woman that I love, mommy, have done drove me from her door. In the section described by Elijah Wald as a 'bridge", he modifies this four-line melody, most notable with

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

leaps on the words "need" and "please": :Now you can read out your hymnbook, preach out your Bible, :Fall on your knees and pray, the good Lord will help you. :Cause you gonna need, gonna need my help someday. :Mama, if you can’t quit your sinnin’, please quit your lowdown ways. These three melodies, and the device of a falsetto leap were used in the following versions of the song.

Other songs with the same title

The earliest documented recording of a song titled "Milk Cow Blues" was by Freddie Spruell in 1926. The lyrics are largely on the lost dairy cow theme: :She's a full-blood Jersey, I'm going to tell you boys the way I know :People just screamin' for my milk cow, I don't care where my Jersey go with one hint at a lost lover: :Say my bed is lonesome my pillow now it sure won't do :I wake up out of the midnight I really have those milk cow blues A different song was recorded by

Sleepy John Estes John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977),
known as Sleepy John Estes, was an A ...

in 1930. The lyrics make no mention of a cow, and the relationship with a lover are not hostile but encouraging: :Well, she looked at me, she began to smile :Says, I thought I would use you for my man a while :That's if you just don't let my husband catch you there :Now, if just-just don't let my husband catch you there There is some similarity between the melody used by Estes and the melody used by Arnold for his four-line verses of his record. Some have concluded that Estes's song is an earlier version of the same song. This is disputed by Boyd and Kelly. Another different song was recorded by

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...

in March 1934. Melodically it differs from all the songs with the same title. Lyrically, it shares with the Kokomo Arnold song: *A dairy cow theme – :I haven't seen my milk cow in three long weeks today :I haven't had no rich cream, mama since my milk cow strayed away :Have you seen a big brown cow she have no horns at all :You don't need a chair to milk her she will back right in your stall *and a departed human lover – :When I got up this morning she had had every dime I had :I said that's all right, mule cow your daddy understand

Robert Johnson song

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

recorded a version of Sleepy John Estes' song, re-titled "Milkcow's Calf Blues", at his last recording session on June 20, 1937. It was released by

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pi ...

in September 1937 as the B-side to "Malted Milk."

Johnnie Lee Wills version

In 1941, Johnnie Lee Wills (younger brother of

Bob Wills James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade C ...

) recorded a version which was released the same year by Decca Records as "Milkcow Blues" by Johnny Lee Wills & His Boys. It was sung by Cotton Thompson.

also recorded it on the Tiffany Transcriptions with a vocal by Tommy Duncan. The Wills/Duncan release "Brain Cloudy Blues" is heavily influenced by "Milk Cow Blues" too.

Elvis Presley version

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, on guitar, accompanied by

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

on guitar and

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio, The Blue Moon Boys. Black later formed Bill ...

on double bass, recorded a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

version retitled "Milkcow Blues Boogie" at

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

in November or December 1954. The arrangement was closer to Wills' version than to the Arnold original. Elvis begins the song as a slow ballad, then adds a spoken interlude by halting after the first four lines: "Hold it, fellas! That don't MOVE me! Let's get real, real gone for a change," prompting the trio to kick it into rockabilly gear.

released the song as a single on January 8, 1955, with " You're a Heartbreaker" as the flipside. RCA Victor Records also released the single in December 1955. It was later included on Presley's 1959 album '' A Date with Elvis''.

Personnel

* Elvis Presley – lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar * Scotty Moore – electric lead guitar * Bill Black – double bass

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milk Cow Blues 1934 songs Milkcow Blues Boogie Milkcow's Calf Blues Milkcow Blues Boogie Eddie Cochran songs The Kinks songs We Five songs Aerosmith songs George Strait songs Glen Campbell songs Willie Nelson songs Blues songs Milkcow Blues Decca Records singles Songs about cattle