{"id":277516,"date":"2026-06-25T04:20:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T04:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277516\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T04:20:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T04:20:58","slug":"leslie-west-on-playing-mountains-mississippi-queen-for-hendrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/277516\/","title":{"rendered":"Leslie West on playing Mountain’s \u201cMississippi Queen\u201d for Hendrix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leslie West<\/a> is decidedly modest when it comes to \u201cMississippi Queen<\/a>,\u201d the rock behemoth that put his band Mountain on the map when it was released in 1970.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song\u2019s got three chords,\u201d the late guitarist told Guitar Player. \u201cAny idiot can play it.\u201d He chuckles, then adds rather immodestly, \u201cI just happen to play it better than anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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West admitted that the track \u2014 driven by West\u2019s fierce electric guitar leads \u2014 \u201chas just everything you need to make it a winner. You\u2019ve 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\u2019s rich and chocolatey. Who doesn\u2019t love that?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Studio\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cMississippi Queen\u201d was the opening track on Climbing!<\/a>, the debut album from the four-piece, which included West, bassist\/producer Felix Pappalardi, drummer Corky Laing and keyboardist Steve Knight.<\/p>\n

Thanks to my first record company check, I had this huge apartment on Park Avenue. I thought, Now that I have this place, I\u2019d better do something to keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Leslie West<\/p>\n

As West pointed out, the song doesn\u2019t wear out its welcome. \u201cThe whole thing is two and a half minutes,\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIt\u2019s over before it starts. People ask me, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you make it longer?\u2019 What would be the point? At two minutes, you don\u2019t get bored.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

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\u2019s first album.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to my first record company check, I had this huge apartment on Park Avenue,\u201d the New York City native explained. \u201cI thought, Now that I have this place, I\u2019d better do something to keep it. So I was messing around with this riff and these chords.<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this thing I used to do \u2013 it was my \u2018bedroom sound.\u2019 I\u2019d put this little amp<\/a> 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"American\n<\/p>\n

Felix Pappalardi and West perform with Mountain at the Fillmore East, in New York City, June 27, 1971. (Image credit: Don Paulsen\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It turned out that Laing had already composed some lyrics that were just waiting for a song. \u201cSo when Corky heard my riff and chords, he showed me what he had,\u201d West continued. \u201cI said, \u2018Okay, I think this can be something. Let me work on it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Laing\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

There\u2019s this story on Wikipedia that we did all these takes. What a load of crap. We did maybe two takes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014 Leslie West<\/p>\n

“We never actually played the song \u2019til we recorded it,\u201d West said, \u201cbut I had a sense that it would come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

It did so very quickly in a matter of a few attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this story on Wikipedia<\/a> that we did all these takes,\u201d West said. \u201cWhat a load of crap. We did maybe two takes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd 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, \u2018Count the fuckin\u2019 song off!\u2019 Corky had a cowbell on his kit, and that\u2019s what he used to count it off. After that, we were in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only one guitar track on the rhythm \u2013 a Les Paul TV Jr<\/a>. into a 50-watt Marshall<\/a> 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost. Against West\u2019s wishes, Pappalardi added a piano to the recording, which can be heard playing a trill near the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelix stuck a little piano on the track,\u201d West explained, \u201cwhich I always hated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although West didn\u2019t consider the song a potential hit, he was encouraged after demoing it for no less than Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded at Studio A of the Record Plant, and Jimi Hendrix<\/a> was in Studio B,\u201d he said. \u201cI played him some of the album we were making, including \u2018Mississippi Queen,\u2019 and his eyes got wide. Seeing how impressed he was made me feel like we were on to something.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Leslie\n<\/p>\n

West promoting his signature series Dean Guitars, in New York City December 14, 2006. (Image credit: Bill Tompkins\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The label agreed. It released \u201cMississippi Queen\u201d 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 \u201cso DJs couldn\u2019t get creative and play the flipside instead,\u201d West explained. \u201cThe single only got to number 21, but I think it could have gone a lot higher. I don\u2019t know how they decide these charts. I mean, radio stations were playing the hell out of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLive, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a song that keeps on giving,\u201d 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<\/a>. I even played on it. The song has been sampled something like 2,000 times. Every time I hear it, I call my accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leslie West is decidedly modest when it comes to \u201cMississippi Queen,\u201d the rock behemoth that put his band…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-277516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}