"Mississippi" is a song by Dutch

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

band Pussycat. Written by Werner Theunissen and produced by Eddy Hilberts, "Mississippi" was the group's first number-one single in their home country, as well as their only number-one single in most countries worldwide. In New Zealand and South Africa, "Mississippi" was their first of two number-one singles; it was the best-selling single of 1977 in the latter nation.

History

Werner Theunissen wrote "Mississippi" in 1969 being inspired by the Bee Gees song "

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". The song grabbed EMI Bovema's attention, and they decided to sign the band. By December 1975, the song had topped the

Dutch Singles Chart The Dutch Top 40 ( nl, Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veroni ...

. Its international success came in 1976, when it reached number one in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as number two in Australia, number four in Austria, and number six in Sweden. In South Africa, "Mississippi" was the highest-selling single of 1977. It is estimated to have sold five million copies worldwide. Outside the Netherlands, Pussycat would later achieve more number-one singles in New Zealand and South Africa, but in most territories, "Mississippi" was their highest-charting effort. In the UK, the song was promoted by John Saunders Hughes through a Liverpool radio station. The lyrics are about the

history of music Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of ...

, and how

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

became more popular than

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Covers

Swedish

dansband (; "dance band"), or in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish term for a band that plays ("dance band music"). ' is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired ...

Vikingarna covered the song in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, with lyrics by Margot Borgström, in April 1976, less than six months after the original release. The Swedish song title was also "Mississippi", and it appeared on the band's album ''Kramgoa Låtar 3'' the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mississippi (Song) 1975 songs 1975 singles 1976 singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles EMI Records singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Belgium Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in South Africa Number-one singles in Switzerland Private Stock Records singles Sonet Records singles Songs about Mississippi Songs about rivers Pussycat (band) UK Singles Chart number-one singles Jonathan King songs Vikingarna (band) songs Works about the Mississippi River sl:Mississippi (skladba, Pussycat)