Lynyrd Skynyrd – Mississippi Kid

This is the first studio album, other than a greatest hits package, that I listened to by them. What makes Mississippi Kid so good is that it feels lived in. It’s loose without being sloppy, gritty without being too intense. This was unplugged before unplugged. This is no bombastic song from the band that had many of them. After the release of their first album, they opened up for The Who on their Quadrophenia tour. Pete Townshend, who rarely paid attention to opening bands, was backstage and stopped mid-sentence and told someone…They’re really quite good, aren’t they?

This song is a deep-fried sleeper on a record that didn’t exactly lack for well-known songs. Mississippi Kid is Lynyrd Skynyrd unplugged, a country-blues song tucked away on their 1973 debut album (Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd)) like some Southern back porch blues the band just happened to catch on tape. It’s the kind of song that makes you picture a jug of moonshine on a wooden table and a dog asleep under the porch.

It took me a while to get used to them because it seemed that people thought every southerner should like them like a requirement. I don’t like those terms, so I stupidly stayed away from them for a long time because I hate following a crowd. They sound like late sixties and early seventies British rock. Free and Cream were their biggest influence around this time.  It makes sense because they were probably more popular in the UK than in the United States til the mid-seventies. 

The mandolin was courtesy of the producer and founder of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Al Kooper. He also famously played the organ on Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone. He would go on to produce their first three albums and also signed them to MCA Records. He found them in a bar and offered to sign them after a few nights. Right after that, someone broke into their van and stole all of their equipment. Van Zant called Al Kooper and asked him if he could help them out. Kooper said yes, of course, and sent the band $5000, and Van Zant told him…“Al, you just bought yourself a band for five thousand dollars.”

They only released 5 albums in their career before the crash. Of those 5 albums, 3 were great and legendary, and 2 were really good.

At the time of his death, Ronnie Van Zant was trying to plan an album with Merle Haggard. I think they would have sounded great together. It’s a shame they never got to do it. 

Mississippi Kid

I got my pistols in my pocket boysI’m, I’m Alabama boundI got my pistols in my pocket boysI’m, I’m Alabama boundWell, I’m not looking for no troubleBut nobody dogs me ’round

Now, well I’m going to fetch my woman, peopleTri-Cities, here I comeOh, well I’m going to fetch my woman, peopleTri-Cities here I come

‘Cause she was raised up on that cornbreadAnd I know that woman’ll give me someGive me some baby

Oh, when this kid hits Alabama, peopleDon’t you try and dog him ’roundNow when this kid hits Alabama, peopleDon’t you try and dog him ’round‘Cause if you people cause me troubleLord, I’ve got to put you in the ground

Well, I was born in Mississippi, babyI don’t take any stuff from youThough I was born in Mississippi, babeAnd I don’t take any stuff from youAnd if I hit you on your headBoy, it’s got to make it black and blue

Ah, well, I’m going to Alabama got my pistols out by my sideHmm, yes, I’ll ride to Alabama with my pistols out by my sideCome down in Alabama, you can run, but you sure can’t hide

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

38 thoughts on “Lynyrd Skynyrd – Mississippi Kid”

  4. when I was in 10th grade everyone was trying to play sweet home alabama, and sure I did too, and bought into free bird…but as i learned more and more about the band, and listened to the background singers on sweet home alabama, yeah good tune, but I change the channel when anything by that band is played….I guess yes it is a political decision, and I don;t now the politics of every act I listen to, but when I do, well no Lynyrd Skynyrd nor Kid Rock for my soundtrack

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  6. Pingback: Lynyrd Skynyrd – Mississippi Kid – MobsterTiger

  7. I really enjoyed this and it raised a big ‘ol smile that’s hard to let go of.
    I couldn’t agree more with your observations: ‘It’s loose without being sloppy, gritty without being too intense. This was unplugged before unplugged’. Nice one.

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  8. A new one to me, and it does sound ‘unplugged’, I don’t think I would have guessed it was them, though it sounds like plugged in & amped up, very much one of their songs. Oddly enough, your comment about ‘supposed’ to like them because of the geography is probably true …but was also true if you were a guy in HS in Ontario in my era, if you didn’t want to be seen as nerdy or gay. Them & Led Zeppelin…early LZ not the ‘Fool in the Rain’ kind of ‘sell Out’ stuff. I just mostly kept my mouth shut & listened to my yacht rock, and in the upper grades, Roxy Music, new wave…

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    1. Yes….that was the pressure here. You had to listen to them so I turned away…but it was stupid because I missed a lot of good music. They did go against stereotype…wrote an enviromental song and an anti gun song to boot.

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  9. I’ve listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd since the ’80s and five or six years ago got “Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd” on used vinyl after I had spotted the album at a small local record store. I didn’t remember that song. Sure, between “Tuesday’s Gone”, “Gimme Three Steps”, “Simple Man” and, of course “Free Bird”, there’s plenty of distraction. That said, “Mississippi Kid” sounds mighty sweet – totally up my alley! Stylistically, I could picture it on “Exile on Main St.”

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    1. You are right…it would have fit nicely on that Stones album. That dirty raw acoustic blues sound. I never made that connection but that is true.

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  10. This is great and very true as you say in that laconic Southern Country Blues tradition. They left quite the musical legacy as well. Very interesting to hear they would be working with Merle Haggard, honestly not a match I would have considered.

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    1. Yea…Van Zant was a big country fan and especially of Merle Haggard. Them writing together would have been pretty cool… what he wanted to do after the band was done was to be a country singer. He didn’t have a great voice…but he knew how to work it in.

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  14. I knew Al Kooper played guitar as well as Hammond organ, but this is the first mandolin part I’m aware of. I also just learned that he played French horn (and piano) with the Stones on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. And I do remember Leonard Skinner, who got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

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    1. I got his book, Backstage Passes, and yea…he was everywhere in rock history. From getting Time of the Season released by the Zombies to working with George Harrison….to signing and producing bands.

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  16. Love the mandolin. Reminds me of some of Ry Cooder’s stuff. I think the only actual album of theirs I had was Street Survivors on a cassette. Otherwise, all I know of their stuff is the hits, and what was played on Classic Rock radio.

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    1. My favorite song they ever did was on Street Survivors….It’s called “I Never Dreamed” ….a beautiful song and probably the direction they were going.

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