The Mississippi River runs about 2,340 miles from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans, draining 31 states along the way. No single waterway shows up in American song more often. It carries the blues out of the Delta, the riverboat romance of the upper river, and a century of leaving-home and coming-home stories.
These are the songs that name it directly, from gospel to country to hip-hop, mapped to the stretch of river they evoke.
The river as RoadyGoat maps it; pins mark songs placed along it.
The Songs
New Orleans
Casey Donahew Band · LA
“And watched the Mississippi river boats flying down that waterline”
83%
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
Al Hirt · LA
“I'd love to see that old lazy Mississippi”
44%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
Dialogue #7
“You know Carl Perkins and I lived right across the Mississippi River from each other”
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
Carolina Line
“Took the Delta Queen on down the river
Rode the Mississippi for a while”
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
25%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
Rock and Roll (Fais-Do-Do)
“I took me a walk down by the Mississippi”
North Dakota Truck Drivin' Man
“He crossed the Mississippi
More times than he could tell”
24%
24%
24%
Up On Cripple Creek (Concert Version)
“Straight down the Mississippi river to the gulf of Mexico”
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
Basin Street Blues
Bob Wills · LA
“Won't you come along with me (come along with me) To the Mississippi? (to the Mississippi?) We'll take a trip to the land of dreams Steamin’ down the river, down to New Orleans”
23%
23%
Tennessee’s Not the State I’m In
Joe Ely · TN
“Now there's more to what I'm thinkin' than the Mississippi line”
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
22%
Stevie Nix
The Hold Steady · MN
“She got high for the first time at the camps down by the banks of the Mississippi River”
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
Southern Pride
Stuck Mojo · MS
“We have an L.A. east of the Mississippi, Lower Alabama, we're from Atlanta”
The Day the Mississippi Died
“And the day the mighty Mississippi died”
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
Memphis Never Falls from Style
“Way down the road from Nashville where the Big Muddy flows”
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Gonna Take a Lot of River (Mississippi, Monongahela, Ohio)
“Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio”
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Before I Die
“Before I die I wanna hit the Mississippi in a boat I've yet to buy”
20%
20%
At the Mississippi Cabaret (feat. Al Stricker & Glennon J. J. Meyer)
“At the Mississippi Cabaret”
19%
Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?
Louis Armstrong · LA
“I'd like to see the lazy Mississippi”
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
18%
17%
Mississippi River Bluebird
“She's my Mississippi River Bluebird”
Muddy Water
“Mary, grab the baby, river's rising
Muddy water’s taking back the land”
16%
16%
15%
15%
14%
13%
13%
12%
12%
12%
12%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
Louisiana Man
Buck Owens · LA
“They raised him on the bank of the river bed...fishin' lines strung across the Louisiana River”
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
Suzannah
“He kissed her on the river boat, they fell in love that night”
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
Mississippi Heavy Water Blues
Roscoe Holcomb · MS
“Walking down the levee with my head a-hanging low”
6%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
Don’t Go into That Barn
Tom Waits · MS
“Smithland to Memphis, Memphis down to Vicksburg, Vicksburg to Natchez”
5%
Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues
“I'm goin' down the Mississippi, gonna give Louisiana hell, Lordy”
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
Here’s to the State of Mississippi
Phil Ochs · MS
“If you drag her muddy river, nameless bodies you will find”
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
Traveling Riverside Blues (Take 1)
Robert Johnson · MS
“We goin' to barrelhouse all night long, 'cause it's on the riverside”
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
