P.S.-Dharma also wrote BOC’s song that was a tribute to Godzilla. I was thinking about my wife, and that maybe we’d get together after I was gone.” “I wrote the guitar riff, the first two lines of lyric sprung into my head, then the rest of it came as I formed a story about a love affair that transcends death. “I was thinking about my own mortality,” he told Performing Songwriter. Dharma wrote the song while picturing an early death for himself. The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald Roeser-known by his stage name, Buck Dharma-deals with eternal love and the inevitability of death. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” appeared on Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 album Agents of Fortune. I think it would be cool to hear at funeral.” People thought it was glorifying suicide and the occult-though it had nothing to do with either. However, here were so many urban legends around it that it caused satanic panic back in the ‘70s. This feature was first published in Classic Rock issue 84.“‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ by Blue Oyster Cult is a classic rock standard that came from the fear of death. Some bands’ signature songs make me cringe, ours doesn’t.” I still enjoy playing it, and it doesn’t bother me that we’re still obliged to do so night after night. “I’m highly amused at the way it has rippled out into popular culture. “Its appearance in The Simpsons was one of this band’s proudest moments,” he chuckles. Had the song not been a hit and helped Blue Öyster Cult to become successful, there’s every chance I’d have gone down the engineering or production side of music. It’s kinda hard to say if we’d still be having this conversation now had I not. Has Roeser ever wondered how life might have been different had he not written it? In later years, … Reaper was used in the closing credits for The Simpsons, was quoted in Stephen King’s book The Stand, and its use of cowbell was even lampooned on hit US TV show Saturday Night Live. In the Bible Belt, those kind of people did sometimes start to get the wrong impression of what we were saying.” “Right from the start we’d purposely cultivated a dark and mysterious persona. “Our image certainly didn’t help,” Roeser chuckles. Nevertheless, some people were only too willing to embrace the song’s more sinister connotations, and for a while Blue Öyster Cult found their concerts picketed by placard-wielding do-gooders accusing them of doing the Devil’s work. “That’s the description I’d prefer to use.” “To me, the mood of the music is eerie,” Roeser offers. In other words, the population turns over but all of these life forces never truly go away.”ĭespite the above, it would be unfair to call … Reaper depressing or morbid. “Forty grand leaving, and then coming back again, every day. Dont Fear The Reaper Tab by Blue Oyster Cult - Buck Dharma - Lead Vocals - Lead 6 (voice). Track: Buck Dharma - Lead Vocals - Lead 6 (voice) Revised on. Subscribe to Plus Paid users learn tabs 60 faster. Learn what is your optimal key for this song and how to transpose it based on your. Blue Oyster Cult - Dont Fear The Reaper Tab. The song’s crucial line: ‘ Forty thousand men and women every day’ was a ball-park figure of how many people Roeser believed would pass away in any given 24 hours: “I had no way of knowing the exact numbers for sure, it was just guesstimate on my part.”Īnd the following reference: ‘ Another forty thousand every day – we can be like they are’ alluded to spirits being reborn in earthly form to replace those that had died? Find best way to sing Dont Fear the Reaper by/from Blue Oyster Cult. “And Patti Smith was in our circle at the time,” he adds, “but she didn’t sing on that particular track.” My general health is good again now, but the incident definitely provided me with some timely food for thought. “Of course, it did cause me to start pondering my own mortality. “I wasn’t what you’d call close to death, but a doctor did diagnose that I had a heart condition,” he says of that illness. The other is that Patti Smith supplies backing vocals on it. One is that an almost fatal health scare of his own had given him the idea for it. Roeser also puts paid to another couple of persistent myths surrounding … Reaper. “It’s not necessarily about suicide, but of course the Romeo and Juliet part was what made people believe that had inspired the song.” “They’re just a couple whose love – you assume – survives suicide,” he explains. Stream songs including Cities On Flame With Rock and. With its lyrical reference to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet being ‘ together in eternity’, it’s easy to see why people might assume the song is about a suicide pact. Listen to Dont Fear the Reaper: The Best of Blue yster Cult by Blue yster Cult on Apple Music.
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