Mississippi Queen (1970) 2/19/20

"This week, we're highlighting the ORIGINAL "More Cowbell" song!

I fell in love with Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" the moment I heard it as a 16-year-old fledgling disc jockey in 1970...and after the fact, I was shocked to find out it never even made Billboard's Top 20. It stalled at #21 and to this day, I don't quite understand why. It received a boatload of radio airplay, and Mountain played it at Woodstock, for Pete's sake--although, to be fair, they were left off the original album.

The song starts with drummer Corky Laing banging on a cowbell, followed by the rest of band (Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, and David Rea) joining in to crank it up for the rest of the song.

It was their only hit...but in the 54 years since 1970, Mountain's influence on Blues/Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal has been praised by folks like Mick Jagger, Johnny Ramone...and, for what it's worth, Howard Stern...as well as Lisa Ann Walter of TV's "Abbott Elementary," who correctly identified the song with the question "What is Mississippi Queen?" n the recent finals of "Celebrity Jeopardy!"

TRIVIA: Originally, drums were being used to "count off" the beat in the recording studio and the cowbell was not a part of the composition. However, after umpteen takes, Corky Laing decided to bang on it as a joke...and "more cowbell" became the rule of the day!

"Mississippi Queen: It's a "Great Song of 1970!"