Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"
Song by Cannonball Adderley from the album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club'
Released	1966
Recorded	Capitol Records (Los Angeles), October 20, 1966
Genre	Soul jazz
Length	5:10
Label	EMI
Writer(s)	Joe Zawinul
Producer(s)	David Axelrod

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" is a song written by Joe Zawinul in 1966 for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and his album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club'. The song is the title track of the album and became a surprise hit.^[1] "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" went to #2 on the Soul chart and #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[2]

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"
Single by The Buckinghams
from the album Time & Charges
B-side	"You Are Gone"
Released	March 1967
Recorded	Columbia Studios, New York, NY
Genre	Sunshine pop, pop rock
Label	Columbia
Producer(s)	James William Guercio
The Buckinghams singles chronology
"Don't You Care" (1967) "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (1967) "Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)" (1967)

Buckinghams cover

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy has been re-recorded numerous times, most notably by The Buckinghams, who reached # 5 in August 1967, adding lyrics to the tune. Musicians on the Buckingham's version included James Henderson, Lew McCreary and Richard Leith on trombone, Bill Peterson, Bud Childers on trumpet, John Johnson on sax, Lincoln Mayorga on Wurlitzer electric piano, Dennis Budimir on guitar, Carol Kaye on bass, and John Guerin on drums.

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1967) Peak position Canada RPM U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [3] 5 U.S. Cash Box Top 100 5

Year-end charts Chart (1967) Rank Canada [4] 55 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [5] 51 U.S. Cash Box [6] 32

Other cover versions

• It was recorded by The Mauds in 1967, with lyrics by Curtis Mayfield. It has now become a jazz standard performed by both beginner and advanced jazz musicians.
• It was also recorded by Willie Mitchell in 1968 as the B-side of his single "Soul Serenade." This version was sampled by rapper GZA on the title track of his 1995 album Liquid Swords.
• It was also recorded by Buddy Rich in 1968 on the album "Mercy, Mercy."
• The theme of the song on the original recording is performed by Joe Zawinul himself playing it on a Wurlitzer electric piano previously used by Ray Charles.^[7]

Theme

The first part of the theme is played two times and is completely made of notes from the major pentatonic scale of the first degree.

Structure and chord progression

The tune is in the key of B-flat major and has a 20-bar structure with four distinct sections. The chord progression is mainly made of dominant-seventh chords on the first, fourth and fifth degrees, giving the song a bluesy feeling although it does not follow a typical blues progression. The subdominant (IV) chord in the beginning section emphasizes this bluesy feeling. In the second section, the tonic chord alternates with a second-inversion subdominant chord, creating a parallel to the I-IV-V progression (in which the tonic moves to the subdominant).

References

1. in Feb. 1967. "This album gave birth to a Top Ten single of the title tune, much to the astonishment of many..." Michael Cuscuna 1995 Capitol Reissue CD liner notes
2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 24.
3. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002
4. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
5. "Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
6. "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1967". Tropicalglen.com. 1967-12-23. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
7. Keyboards (german keyboard magazine), 06/2007 http://www.keyboards.de.

4.^http://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/covered-rec-artist_SR.php?a=MDM5NjU0&b=TUVSQ1ksIE1FUkNZLCBNRVJDWQ%3D%3D&c=QlVDS0lOR0hBTVM%3D&s=Rg%3D%3D