Are you sure about that? Seriously, listen carefully to the album version. Because either I'm imagining it, or I'm just really tuned in to it. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I heard the song the other night on the radio, and I swear that I heard cowbell. Lots and lots of cowbell!
Mark
It first appeared on the Agents of Fortune album. [1976]
Prior studio recordings of it had no cowbell.
According to the book “Blue Oyster Cult: Secrets Revealed!” there was no cowbell in the original final studio version.
Sandy Pearlman, for whatever reason, later decided to add it in and Eric Bloom over-dubbed the cowbell onto the finished recording.
They still don’t use it live.
If you have the live albums BOC: Extended Versions, “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” or “Some Enchanted Evening”, you’ll be mercifully freed from the accursed cowbell......:)