Watch Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover ‘Mississippi Queen’
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin released the third in their Hannukah Sessions series of covers, celebrating the work of Jewish artists during the faith’s winter festival.
The Foo Fighters leaders and the band’s producer opened proceedings last week by performing the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” then followed it up with Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” The latest addition was Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen,” which can be seen below.
“Talk about making a mountain out of a mohel,” they said in a statement. “[N]amed Leslie Weinstein at his bris, the singer of our next band built a wailing wall of guitar as Leslie West. Check out our take on a track from Leslie’s monolithic band, Mountain.”
“I’m fucking this cup up so bad right now,” Grohl says of the container he’s using in place of a cowbell during the recording. Several YouTube viewers picked up on the line, leaving comments that included: “Dave Grohl is my favorite cup player,” “Dave knew he would be doing a disservice to the Jewish community, and to the song, if he didn't play the hell out of that cup,” and “I was searching for ‘1 Grohls 1 Cup’ and ended up here. Not mad about it.”
Mountain released “Mississippi Queen” in 1970, and it appeared on their debut album Climbing! The same year. It became their highest-charting single, reaching No.21, and it’s been covered a number of times over the past five decades, including Ozzy Osbourne’s 2005 version.
“The song’s got three chords,” West said of his composition in August 2020. “Any idiot can play it. I just happen to play it better than anybody!” He added: “[It] 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?”
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin - ‘Mississippi Queen’
Mountain - ‘Mississippi Queen’