Leslie West is decidedly modest when it comes to “Mississippi Queen,” the rock behemoth that put his band Mountain on the map when it was released in 1970.
“The song’s got three chords,” the late guitarist told Guitar Player. “Any idiot can play it.” He chuckles, then adds rather immodestly, “I just happen to play it better than anybody.”
West admitted that the track — driven by West’s fierce electric guitar leads — “has just everything you need to make it a winner. You’ve got the cowbell, the riff is pretty damn good, and it sounds incredible. It feels like it wants to jump out of your car radio. To me, it sounds like a big, thick milkshake. It’s rich and chocolatey. Who doesn’t love that?”
“Mississippi Queen” was the opening track on Climbing!, the debut album from the four-piece, which included West, bassist/producer Felix Pappalardi, drummer Corky Laing and keyboardist Steve Knight.
Thanks to my first record company check, I had this huge apartment on Park Avenue. I thought, Now that I have this place, I’d better do something to keep it.”
— Leslie West
As West pointed out, the song doesn’t wear out its welcome. “The whole thing is two and a half minutes,” he exclaimed. “It’s over before it starts. People ask me, ‘Why didn’t you make it longer?’ What would be the point? At two minutes, you don’t get bored.”
The song came to him at a moment when he was having some success. After releasing Mountain in 1969, West expanded the project into a full band, Mountain, which made its debut at Woodstock in August that year, creating high anticipation for what would be the group’s first album.
“Thanks to my first record company check, I had this huge apartment on Park Avenue,” the New York City native explained. “I thought, Now that I have this place, I’d better do something to keep it. So I was messing around with this riff and these chords.
“I had this thing I used to do – it was my ‘bedroom sound.’ I’d put this little amp on my bed and position it so it was shooting right into the pillow. I cranked it up all the way, and it sounded like a truck. It really worked with this new idea I had.’
It turned out that Laing had already composed some lyrics that were just waiting for a song. “So when Corky heard my riff and chords, he showed me what he had,” West continued. “I said, ‘Okay, I think this can be something. Let me work on it.’”
Laing’s friend David Rea came up with a few lines for the chorus, and the song was complete. They entered the studio without even having rehearsed it.
There’s this story on Wikipedia that we did all these takes. What a load of crap. We did maybe two takes.”
— Leslie West
“We never actually played the song ’til we recorded it,” West said, “but I had a sense that it would come together.”
It did so very quickly in a matter of a few attempts.
“There’s this story on Wikipedia that we did all these takes,” West said. “What a load of crap. We did maybe two takes.
“And the story goes that Corky got bored, so he started playing the cowbell. Also crap. The cowbell was always in there. The first time we played it, Felix said, ‘Count the fuckin’ song off!’ Corky had a cowbell on his kit, and that’s what he used to count it off. After that, we were in.
“It’s only one guitar track on the rhythm – a Les Paul TV Jr. into a 50-watt Marshall that went into a Sunn 12-inch cabinet. I knew how to make it sound extra fat. I overdubbed the leads, and we were done.”
Almost. Against West’s wishes, Pappalardi added a piano to the recording, which can be heard playing a trill near the end.
“Felix stuck a little piano on the track,” West explained, “which I always hated.”
Although West didn’t consider the song a potential hit, he was encouraged after demoing it for no less than Jimi Hendrix.
“We recorded at Studio A of the Record Plant, and Jimi Hendrix was in Studio B,” he said. “I played him some of the album we were making, including ‘Mississippi Queen,’ and his eyes got wide. Seeing how impressed he was made me feel like we were on to something.”
The label agreed. It released “Mississippi Queen” as the lead single from Climbing! To ensure DJs pushed the song, radio station promo copies of the record had the song on both sides “so DJs couldn’t get creative and play the flipside instead,” West explained. “The single only got to number 21, but I think it could have gone a lot higher. I don’t know how they decide these charts. I mean, radio stations were playing the hell out of it.
“Live, the reaction was always enormous. People freaked out the second we started playing it. We stretched it out a bit onstage, because two minutes is pretty short, and we usually saved it for the encore. I learned a long time ago to go out on a high note.
“It’s a song that keeps on giving,” noted West, who died in 2020. A lot of people have covered it. I like most of the versions, but I really like the one that Ozzy Osbourne did. I even played on it. The song has been sampled something like 2,000 times. Every time I hear it, I call my accountant.”
