Song 557: This week the playlist recognizes Mississippi Queen by Mountain, written by Leslie West, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi and David Rea, and you can find an entertaining YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this spinner hit the airwaves at the turn of the 1970s, my knowledge of the RnR landscape was greatly expanding, thanks in part to the amazing LP collection belonging to a guy named Hank Neuberger who lived in the room across the hall from me at the N.U. dormitory, and since I had so much catching up to do, I didn't always notice the latest chart toppers that came along in that era, but this cut got a lot of airplay over the next year or two, and at some point it did cross my radar, and I felt it deserved all of the attention that it had already accumulated. The quartet rightly got credit for playing a major role in creating the heavy metal sound that moved the rocking needle during that decade, so when guitarist, singer and group founding member Leslie West died in December of 2020, the hard rock scene lost one of its original leading lights. While not everyone has seen a Mississippi Queen, probably most of us have known at least one dancer who moved better on wine, and, if you know what I mean, that can be a gratifying way of gettin' your kicks.
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