Mississippi Mud

"Mississippi Mud" is a 1927 song written by Harry Barris, first sung by Bing Crosby as a member of Paul Whiteman's The Rhythm Boys.

The Rhythm Boys originally recorded the song on June 20, 1927 in New York for Victor as a medley with "I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain." It was recorded by Paul Whiteman's orchestra on February 18, 1928 with vocals by Irene Taylor and The Rhythm Boys featuring Bing Crosby and with Bix Beiderbecke on cornet. Two takes from the June 20, 1927 session were released on Victor. Paul Tremaine's Orchestra performed "Mississippi Mud" in a 1929 film short. Later it was also sung briefly by the Rhythm Boys in the 1930 film King of Jazz. The song was also sung in the 1931 Toby the Pup cartoon Down South. The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby, Harry Barris, and Al Rinker, performed the song when they reunited on radio in 1943 on the Paul Whiteman Presents radio program. Paul Whiteman re-recorded the song on December 7, 1954 for Coral Records.

The song has been recorded by a number of artists since, including Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke, Dinah Shore, Si Zentner and his Orchestra and the Johnny Mann Singers, the Charleston Chasers, the Louisiana Rhythm Kings, Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer with Billy May and His Orchestra, Edyie Gorme, Connie Haines. The Lennon Sisters, Harry Reser's band under the name the Seven Little Polar Bears, Dick Cathcart, Joan Shaw, and Ray Charles, and become one of the standards of the American songbook, but with lyrics revised from the original politically incorrect version. The original lyrics featured the refrain line: "When the darkies beat their feet on the Mississippi Mud", which has since been revised to: "When the people beat their feet on the Mississippi Mud."

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