(Don't Fear) The Reaper

The song is about the inevitability of death and the foolishness of fearing it, and was written when Dharma was thinking about what would happen if he died at a young age.[6] Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder–suicide pact, but Dharma says the song is about eternal love, rather than suicide.[7][4] He used Romeo and Juliet to describe a couple who wanted to be together in the afterlife.[8] He guessed that "40,000 men and women" died each day (from all causes), and the figure was used several times in the lyrics, but this number was about 100,000 too low.[9]

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was written and sung by lead guitarist Buck Dharma and produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman.[10] The song's distinctive guitar riff is built on the "I-bVII-bVI" chord progression, in an A minor scale.[11] The riff was recorded with Krugman's Gibson ES-175 guitar, which was run through a Music Man 410 combo amplifier, and Dharma's vocals were captured with a Telefunken U47 tube microphone. The guitar solo and guitar rhythm sections were recorded in one take, while a four-track tape machine amplified them on the recording. Sound engineer Shelly Yakus remembers piecing together the separate vocals, guitar and rhythm section into a master track, with the overdubbing occurring in that order.[12]

Mojo described its creation: "'Guys, this is it!' engineer Shelly Yakus announced at the end of the first take. 'The legendary once-in-a-lifetime groove!' ... What evolved in the studio was the extended solo section; it took them nearly as long to edit the five-minute track down to manageable length as it did to record it."[13]

The song features use of the cowbell percussion instrument,[4] overdubbed on the original recording. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered the producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, play the cowbell: "Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together."[14] However, producer David Lucas says that he played it,[15] while bandmember Eric Bloom claims that he was the one to play it.[16]

The song was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 20 weeks, reaching number 12 for the weeks beginning November 6 and November 13 in 1976.[17] It was BÖC's highest-charting U.S. song and helped Agents of Fortune reach number 29 on the Billboard 200.[18] "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" charted even higher in Canada, peaking at number 7.[19] The single edit was released in the UK in July 1976 (CBS 4483) but failed to chart. However the unedited album version was released as a single (CBS 6333) in May 1978, where it reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.[20]

Critical reaction was mostly positive. Record World said that "An 'Eight Miles High' guitar line is complemented by smooth vocals."[21] Denise Sullivan of Allmusic praised the song's "gentle vocals and virtuoso guitar" and "haunting middle break which delivers the listener straight back to the heart of the song once the thunder is finished".[22] Nathan Beckett called it BÖC's "masterpiece" and compared the vocals to the Beach Boys.[23] Writing for PopMatters, James Mann hailed it as a "landmark, genre-defining masterpiece" that was "as grand and emotional as American rock and roll ever got".[24] Pitchfork Media also referred to the song as a "masterpiece".[25]

7" Vinyl

1. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Roeser) – 3:45
2. "Tattoo Vampire" (Albert Bouchard, Helen Robbins) – 2:40

• Eric Bloom – guitar, backing vocals
• Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser – guitar, lead vocals
• Allen Lanier – keyboards, guitar
• Joe Bouchard – bass
• Albert Bouchard – drums, percussion, cowbell[26]

with:

• Michael and Randy Brecker – horns (their contribution appears only on the extended album track and was edited out of the released single)[27]
• David Lucas – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion

• New Zealand band The Mutton Birds recorded a version for the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's film The Frighteners. In 1997, it peaked at No.48 on the Australian ARIA singles charts, the only Mutton Birds single to chart in Australia.[32]

• Greek duo Keep Shelly in Athens released a version of the song in 2019[33] that was later included on the soundtrack of the 2020 film Unhinged, heard during the closing credits.

In 1976 Rolling Stone named "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" the song of the year[10] and, in 2004, the magazine placed the song at number 397 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time";[34] however, the 2010 version of the list moved it down to number 405.[10] In 1997 Mojo listed the song as the 80th best single of all time,[35] while Q ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" number 404 in its 2003 countdown of the "1001 Best Songs Ever."[36]

When The Guardian released its unranked list of the "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" in 2009, the song was included. The publication wrote that the song's charm "lies in the disjuncture between its gothic storyline and the sprightly, Byrdsian guitar line that carries it."[7] In his book The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, rock critic Dave Marsh ranked the song at number 997.[37]

• Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952–2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins Press. ISBN 0-00-717931-6.
• Brackett, Nathan (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
• Marsh, Dave (1999). The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York City: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80901-X.
• Rooksby, Rikky (2002). Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-710-2.