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Johnston was inspired to write “Walking the Cow” while looking at an ice cream logo featuring a young girl walking a cow. He told an interviewer the logo was for Borden brand ice cream, but it was likely Blue Bell.
Johnston explained that “walking the cow” represents:
"Walking your responsibility. It’s like a burden to me, like walking the cow was bearing your cross. I don’t want to stay here but I’m walking the cow."
The relationship between walking a cow and responsibility could be a reference to Frank Zappa’s cameo in the movie Head, featuring The Monkees. In it, after Davy Jones is seen walking a cow, Zappa tells Jones he should spend more time working on his music.
The song has proven to be one of Johnston’s most popular, seeing covers from a variety of artists, such as TV On The Radio, Kathy McCarthy, Kagoule, fIREHOSE, Sego, among others.
Famously, Pearl Jam performed the song at the 1994 Bridge School Benefit Concert. Eddie Vedder later opened his set with it at every show on his 2008 solo tour.
In an interview in 2009, Johnston explained the story behind the phrase “walking the cow”:
"There was that Borden ice cream that had the little girl walking the cow on the wrapper. I cut it out and glued it on my notebook. And later when I picked up my chord organ and started writing songs, I looked at that and I wrote down ‘walking the cow’, and when I’d finished I thought I’d done something pretty cool."
While Johnston told the interviewer it was Borden brand ice cream, it was likely Blue Bell.
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