"Grazing in the Grass" is an instrumental composed by Philemon Hou and first recorded by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. It is recognizable by its prominent cowbell part. Released in the United States as a single in 1968, it became one of the few instrumentals to reach the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [1]. The song was well accepted by more adult audiences, reaching position 15 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey.
The Friends of Distinction recorded a vocal cover version of the tune in 1969 which was also a Top Ten pop and R&B hit, reaching #3 on the former and #5 on the latter. [2]. "Grazing in the Grass" has been recorded by many other musicians, including Chet Atkins, Boney James, Willie Mitchell, The Monitors, Meco, cc: DIVA. In 2004 it was covered by Raven-Symoné; her version was played on Radio Disney but never received a general commercial release as a single for airplay in other venues. The video for her version features her and dancing extras interacting with scenes from The Lion King 1½.
Download this sheet!