If you’re feeling like this week has been a bit too heavy for one reason or another and you need something to make you smile, look no further. This video has it all: cows, saxophone music, and one adorably wholesome dad who somehow managed to bring all of it together perfectly.
After years of wanting to learn how to play the saxophone, Rick Herrmann finally began learning seven months ago.
In an interview with Buzzfeed News , he explained that, “one day I was like, ‘Why not now? I’m going to get one.'”
So he did just that, and he said in those seven months, he become a pretty “OK” saxophone player. Not bad, considering he had never played one before.
On June 25, his wife suggested he go try out his newfound sax skills on one audience in particular: a herd of cows.
And because this just might be the most random and also somehow brilliant suggestion ever, Rick agreed, and he and his family set off for a local field where they knew some cows would be lingering and may even be in need of a little sunset entertainment.
Rick’s daughter recognized a viral moment when she saw it and made sure to capture the whole scene on her phone.
In a two-part video series posted to her Twitter , we get to watch her dad try out a few of his best-known songs on his saxophone for a group of surprisingly eager cows who were the best audience members Rick could have hoped for.
“First of all, I love cows. I spent my summers on a dairy farm,” he explained. “I had a feeling they’d come up if I started to play.”
He starts off pretty light with a jazzy rendition of “Isn’t She Lovely?”, just to get the crowd warmed up.
Just as Rick expected, his song-stylings turn out to be enough to pique the interest of these adorable farm animals who all begin crossing the field to come towards him and his glorious saxophone.
As they get even closer to the fence, and Erin remarks, “They’re coming to you!”, Rick begins to play, “Careless Whisper”, an audience favorite.
“‘Careless Whisper’ is the first song everyone learns on the saxophone,” he said.
Next, as he moves into his third and final song of the evening, ‘Tequila’, he has every single cow’s undivided attention.
I’m not kidding. These guys look like they’ve been waiting their entire lives to be serenaded with a saxophone. In the videos, they’re gathered as close as possible to the fence separating them and Rick, their tails flicking and eyes fixated on the man as he delivers some sweet tunes.
Even the neighbors were enjoying it, as one can be heard in the distance enthusiastically shouting out “Tequila!” at the precise moment in the song.
Thanks to Erin’s post on Twitter, Rick, his saxophone, and those delightful cows have all gone viral.
The videos have racked up over 10 million views, over 800,000 likes, and 250,000 retweets. Everyone in the comments are expressing just how impressive they think Rick’s sax skills are, and how wholesome this entire scene really is to watch.
Other users are wondering just what that farmer must have thought if/when he noticed all his cows crowded around one saxophone-wielding man.
I don’t think he would have probably cared so much as he would have been just deeply confused as to 1) why his cows were so deeply enthralled by saxophone music and 2) why a man chose to use his field as his personal saxophone stage.
Or maybe the farmer was out there enjoying the free music too. Who knows?
As for his sudden, nearly overnight internet fame, Rick is staying pretty humble about the whole thing.
“I just want to make people smile,” he admitted. “I just didn’t think it would be so soon, and to so many people.”
Personally I’d love to see even more videos of Rick playing his sax for those cows. Maybe if he does it enough they’ll start singing back to him. Or mooing back to him, I guess. Still, they could have the next big America’s Got Talent performance on their hands.
h/t: Buzzfeed News
