Cowan has a fine singing voice. At the infamous drink-in in Galway shortly before he resigned he,-by several accounts- gave a fine rendition of the ‘Lakes of Pontchartrain’
“T’was on one bright March morning I bid New Orleans adieu
And I took the rode to Jackson town, me fortune to renew
I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain
Which filled me heart with longin’ for the Lakes of Pontchartrain. “