Milk Cow Blues

"Milkcow Blues Boogie"
"Milkcow Blues Boogie" cover
Song by Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill from the album A Date With Elvis
Released	January 8, 1955
A-side	You're a Heartbreaker
Recorded	November–December 1954
Genre	Rockabilly
Length	2:39
Label	Sun, RCA
Writer(s)	Kokomo Arnold

"Milk Cow Blues" is a blues song written and originally recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1930.

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

In 1941, Johnnie Lee Wills (younger brother of Bob Wills) recorded a version which was released the same year by Decca Records as "Milkcow Blues" by Johnny [sic] Lee Wills & His Boys. It was sung by Cotton Thompson.

Bob Wills 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, accompanied by Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass, recorded a rockabilly version retitled "Milkcow Blues Boogie" at Sun Records in November or December 1954. The arrangement was closer to Wills' version than to the Arnold original. The song was released in January 8, 1955 with "You're a Heartbreaker" as the A-side, but would not be released on LP until 1959, when it was included on the RCA LP A Date with Elvis. The tune was also released as a 45 rpm single, along with "You're a Heartbreaker" on RCA Victor records (47-6382). It is listed as 2:34 minutes long, with the publisher Leeds Music ASCAP. It has catalog number F2WW-8044.

Eddie Cochran's version of "Milk Cow Blues" was posthumously released on the album Never to Be Forgotten.