Mississippi Queen
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| “Mississippi Queen” | ||
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| Single by Mountain from the album Climbing! |
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| B-side | "The Laird" | |
| Released | May, 1970 | |
| Format | 7" 45 RPM | |
| Genre | Hard rock Southern rock |
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| Length | 2:30 | |
| Label | Columbia | |
| Writer(s) | Leslie West, Corky Laing | |
| Producer | Felix Pappalardi | |
"Mississippi Queen" is a song originally performed by the band Mountain.
"Mississippi Queen" was written by Leslie West (who supplies lead vocals and guitar) and drummer Corky Laing. Originally appearing on their 1970 album Climbing!, it has remained Mountain's most popular song. It begins with the banging of Laing's cowbell and West's easily recognizable guitar tracks.
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[edit] Lyrics
Being put together by David Rea and Corky Laing, the lyrics were inspired by an incident that happened to Laing while playing at a club in Nantucket. An unnamed friend's girlfriend was there, visiting from Mississippi. She happened to be wearing a see-through dress that evening. Quite suddenly, the power on the entire island went out, and in a drug-induced moment of creativity, Laing began belting out the words.[1]
The song seems to be a confession of love by the singer to a Cajun lady he met whom he called the "Mississippi Queen" (the lyrics could also seem to imply that she lives aboard the famous riverboat named the "Mississippi Queen" which plies the waters of the lower Mississippi river and often calls at the port of Vicksburg). The setting of the song occurs somewhere "down around Vicksburg" (a city on the Mississippi River across from Louisiana), "around [the] Louisiana way", which lends itself to several competing interpretations: that she lived across the river from Vicksburg (the bridge on Interstate 20 connects the Mississippi-Louisiana sides) where there is a well-known local strip club or that she is just passing through on the boat (as mentioned above) or that she is originally from south Louisiana (the area of Louisiana where Cajuns reside) and now resides in Mississippi (Blues notables Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters both hail from the area in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi).
Early in the song, he compliments her lovemaking skills (or admits his lack thereof) by stating "...she taught me everything", then goes on to say she was a dancer who "moved better on wine". The singer continues, saying that she had asked him to be her man to which he replies, "I'd do what I can". He evidently took her up on her offer as the next line says "to keep her looking pretty, buy her dresses that shine...while the rest of them dudes were makin’ their bread, boy I beg your pardon, I was losin’ mine."
[edit] In the media
- The song is featured on the soundtrack of 1971 cult classic Vanishing Point.
- Homer can be heard singing a part of the chorus from "Mississippi Queen" in the car in The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
- In the movie Comeback Season, the song can be heard playing on the radio.
- In a commercial for ABC's comedy Carpoolers, the guys in the car are jamming to "Mississippi Queen".
- The song is parodied in an episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete. The parody is entitled "Marmalade Queen" and is set to the same tune.
- The song can be heard playing during the bachelor party scene in the movie Artie Lange's Beer League.
- In the remake of the movie The Longest Yard, the song can be heard in the guard's locker room as the character of Unger tells the team about Megget, the opposing team's new runningback.
- The song is showcased at the end of the film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
- Covers of the song were featured in both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band as playable songs.
- The song is heard during a chase scene in the film The Dukes of Hazzard
[edit] Selected list of recorded versions
- ZZ Top and Grand Funk Railroad have both covered the song, as well as many other artists.
- 1985, W.A.S.P., on their 1998 reissue of their 1985 release The Last Command.
- 2005, Ozzy Osbourne, on his Under Cover covers album.
- 2008, Ministry, on their album Cover Up.
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive, on their The All-Time Greatest Hits Live, Vol. 1 compilation album.
- Sam Kinison. His version used slightly different lyrics.
- Indorphine, on their album Glowsticks for Clubbing Baby Seals.
- 1999, Raging Slab, on the In the Groove compilation album.
- Zakk Wylde would often cover "Mississippi Queen" live with his band Pride & Glory.
- Dale Oliver remixed the song for TNA Knockout, Roxxi Laveaux's entrance theme
