Adam Faith — “Cowman Milk Your Cow”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — July 17, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,274) Adam Faith — “Cowman* Milk Your Cow”

Courtesy of songwriters Barry and Robin Gibb, here is “an early 1960’s U.K. rocker attempting to bounce back with a dose of pop sike whimsy”. (Wilthomer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2oGZV851kU), But ye of little faith, it works! “[I] didn’t expect Adam Faith would pull off convincing popsike, but this is top BeeGeeian ’67 stuff. Love it!” (mndandy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2oGZV851kU) It is “a totally unexpected piece of psychedelic folk-rock . . . that seriously extend[ed] the perceived strength and musical longevity of [Adam] Faith’s career.” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/album/maybe-someone-is-digging-underground-songs-of-the-bee-gees-mw0000470775)

Lightspots calls “Cowman” #23 of the Bee Gees’ top 50 songs from 1966-72:

With its pulsing bass, treble lead guitar and obscure lyrics, “Cowman Milk Your Cow” marked a dramatic change of style from Faith’s previous pizzicato stringed boy-meets-girl confections. My understanding is that the Bee Gees made their own recording but, to my knowledge, no tapes have yet emerged. . . . With more conventional lyrics, “Cowman” would be a thoroughly enjoyable pop song.  Bass and overlaid guitar sound great together.  But the lyrics on offer here skirt around life, death, future and fate with a whimsical persistence. From its opening of chiming guitars to the closing ‘chant to fade’, [it] is prime 1967 pop-psych.  Adam Faith delivers the whole thing with a mandatory air of profundity.  The single did nothing.

https://lightspots.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/cowman-milk-your-cow/

Faith’s band, the Roulettes, backed him on the song. “The backing vocals sound like it’s the Gibbs themselves (or Robin at least). Unless Adam does a good impression of him.” (Wurzelsepp, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5635)

How did the song come about? Bee Gees authority Joseph Brennan says that Faith requested a song after hearing Bee Gees’ First. (https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/67.html) However, Faith recalled that:

I think [“Cowman”] came to me through one of The Roulettes my backing group at the time. They’d heard it and thought it would make a great record. I think we did hear a demo. I loved the song, it was one of those mad moments where you hear somebody, a writer, sing their own song so brilliantly, it fools you into thinking that you can achieve the same effect. Of course, who’s going to sing it better than those boys?, Fantastic, amazing group!, Brilliant!

Joseph Hughes, The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb

As to Adam Faith, Bruce Eder writes:

The late ’50s in England saw a legion of young teen idols, groomed for music stardom by managers eager to see their clients land a chart hit or two on their way to careers as all-around entertainers, or even television or movie actors. . . . Adam Faith was one of the better ones . . . who went on to a respectable acting career in television, movies, and theater. Born Terence Nelhams . . . he . . . . came to the attention of producer Jack Goode, which, in turn, introduced Faith to bandleader John Barry . . , which resulted in the invitation to audition for a role in Drumbeat. . . . Faith became an immediate star, with his matinee-idol looks and charismatic screen presence. . . . In November of 1959, he cut the single “What Do You Want,” which soared to number one on the British charts . . . . His next single, “Poor Me,” . . also reached number one, while his third, “Somebody Else’s Baby,” got to number two. Although hardly cutting-edge rock & roll . . . it was all pleasant . . . . He placed six songs in the Top Ten during 1960, and three more in 1961. His string of major hits was pretty much exhausted by the summer of 1962 . . . . [H]e could be lethally “cute” on novelty songs . . . . [H]is superb backing band, the Roulettes — featur[ed] future Argent members — Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit who recorded some of the best music of the early British Invasion era. Beginning in 1963, they had a separate recording and performing career as well . . . . Their records with Faith were also exceptionally good, and were among the last of his major hits. . . . Faith’s handful of early film appearances generally enhanced his musical image, most notably Beat Girl (1961), a fairly gritty British delinquency drama. He turned increasingly to acting on the stage during this period, and by the ’70s he’d moved on to a career in business, with a successful finance company and a directorship of the Savoy Hotel. He returned to repertory theater work in the ’70s and created the title role of the series Budgie, which he later brought to the stage. Faith also resumed his film career . . . . He also went into music management during the ’70s, and the most important of his clients was Leo Sayer.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/adam-faith-mn0000591806#biography

* “‘Cowman’ is not an uncommon word in England where the term originated and generally refers to an employee on a farm who milks cows and is responsible for a herd of cattle.” (molemilton, https://www.45cat.com/record/r5635)

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