The Cowsills on the Barbara McNair Show

The Cowsills appeared on at least four different episodes of the Barbara McNair Show in the '70s. This video contains all three of the songs they performed on the November 22, 1970 episode of the show. Elsewhere on YouTube I've posted another episode of the McNair show featuring the Cowsills, and other such episodes may follow.

First up we have a very brief cover of Johnny Cash's 1955 tune "Folsom Prison Blues." Cash borrowed the melody for the song and many of the lyrics from Gordon Jenkins' 1953 "Seven Dreams" album, specifically the song "Crescent City Blues," for which he ended up having to pay Jenkins a settlement of approximately $75,000. For this performance John Cowsill has vacated his usual position behind the drums to commendably handle vocals and acoustic guitar. His place at the skins is taken by Paul, who in turn has handed over his bass to Susan. Susan also has things covered in the smiles department; occasionally at ill-timed moments. "I shot a man in Reno just to see him die" sings John, as the camera cuts to Susan grinning away! Bob gets in some tasty country licks on guitar, while Barry handles duties on second electric guitar. Some of Johnny Cash's more ardent fans don't take kindly to seeing his (or in this case Gordon Jenkins') music performed by others, but for everyone else this rendition adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable, thumping romp.

Up next is "I Really Want to Know You," a song written by husband and wife writing partners Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. This beautiful tune appeared on the Cowsills 1970 album "II x II." Curiously, also in 1970 the song appeared on the debut album of the TV family "band" inspired by the Cowsills -- the Partridge Family! John supplies the perfect loose, understated drum work which helps make this rendition work so well.

Things wrap up with the show's quests joining together to sing "United We Stand" as the closing credits roll. Like the previous tune, this song was also first released the same year as this 1970 show (by "The Brotherhood of Man"). Aside from host McNair and the Cowsills, the other guests are Freda Payne and Jan Rubes. Rubes was primarily an opera singer who no doubt found himself wondering why he allowed himself to get involved with this sing-along -- especially after Susan nearly crashes into him at 8:01!

There's an odd coincidence about this last performance. The nine performers are standing atop circular platforms. Five of them have their own individual platforms, whereas four of them have been paired-up to share two of the platforms. Fast forward to the present and those two pairs sharing the platforms are the only ones who are now deceased. Sharing a platform in the back, Barbara Cowsill died in 1985 and her son Barry died in 2005. And sharing the platform in front, Barbara McNair died in 2007 and Jan Rubes died in 2009.

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This is a non-commercial, non-for-profit video used under fair use solely for entertainment and commentary purposes.