By Ian Murphy

If there were a contest for the World’s Fattest Riff, Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” would win, hands down. The guitar tone is so fat, it’s terminally obese. I mean, Walter “Piano Box Man” Hudson has nothing on this tune, although I am sure he’d approve of the edibility of the song.. This rib eye of a riff just smokes from the very beginning. Leslie West cooks up a killer tune here, and for a blues based song, it is crushingly heavy. The guitar is so loud in the mix that you hardly pay attention to anything else.

What makes this one so great (besides being super catchy) is the fact that is sounds like West laid down at least 5 guitar tracks for the main signature riff, which made it simply monstrous. Up until this point (1970), Jimmy Page’s riff in “Heartbreaker” was the fattest one out there. “Mississippi Queen” makes it merely look only slightly plump, like a breakfast sausage next to a big, juicy bratwurst. So, if you’re hungry, dig in and enjoy the Les Paul-y goodness of Mountain’s signature song.

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