"Milkcow Blues Boogie"

Single by Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill
A-side	"You're a Heartbreaker"
Released	January 8, 1955 (1955-01-08)
Format	78 & 45 rpm records
Recorded	November or December 1954
Studio	Sun, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	Rockabilly
Length	2:39
Label	Sun
Songwriter(s)	Kokomo Arnold

"Milk Cow Blues" is a blues 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 and rock idioms.

The lyrics of the Kokomo Arnold record combine the threads of:

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:

and in "My Black Mama Part 1" by Son House in 1930, also in a four-line verse, but one formed by repetition:

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:

For four line verses such as the following, he sings the first two lines to a melody uninterrupted by guitar:

In the section described by Elijah Wald as a 'bridge", he modifies this four-line melody, most notable with falsetto leaps on the words "need" and "please":

These three melodies, and the device of a falsetto leap were used if following versions of the song.

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:

with one hint at a lost lover:

A different song was recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1930. The lyrics make no mention of a cow, and the relationship with a lover are not hostile but encouraging:

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 in March 1934. Melodically it differs from all the songs with the same title. Lyrically, it shares with the Kokomo Arnold song:

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."

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Wikipedia