"Mercury Boogie" | |
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Single by K. C. Douglas Trio | |
B-side | "Eclipse of the Sun" |
Released | 1949 |
Recorded | 1948 |
Genre | Blues |
Label | Down Town |
Songwriter(s) | K. C. Douglas, Robert Geddins |
Official audio | |
"Mercury Boogie" on YouTube |
"Mercury Blues" is a song written by rural blues musician K. C. Douglas and Robert Geddins, and first recorded by Douglas in 1948. [1] The song, originally titled "Mercury Boogie," pays homage to the American automobile marque, which ended production in 2010. [2] [3]
Rights to the song were purchased by the Ford Motor Company (who already owned the Mercury marque). Ford, in turn, used it for a 1996 television commercial featuring country musician Alan Jackson singing his 1993 version of the song with the word "Mercury" replaced by the words "Ford Truck." [4]
The song has been covered by many musicians. Among the most notable versions are ones by Jackson, rock musician David Lindley, from his 1981 album El Rayo-X , and rock musician Steve Miller, from his 1976 album Fly Like an Eagle . Lindley's single peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
"Mercury Blues" | ||||
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Single by Alan Jackson | ||||
from the album A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love) | ||||
B-side | "Tropical Depression" | |||
Released | September 13, 1993 | |||
Recorded | May 26, 1992 [5] | |||
Genre | Country, rockabilly [6] | |||
Length | 3:39 | |||
Label | Arista | |||
Songwriter(s) | K. C. Douglas Robert Geddins | |||
Producer(s) | Keith Stegall | |||
Alan Jackson singles chronology | ||||
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Official video | ||||
"Mercury Blues" on YouTube |
American country music artist Alan Jackson recorded the song for his 1993 album, A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love) . [7] It was released in September 1993 as the fourth single from the album. His version of the song peaked at number 2 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart and the RPM Country Tracks in Canada. [8] [9]
Kevin John Coryne of Country Universe gave the song a B grade, calling it "a throwaway track that ended up being a pretty big hit." He went on to say that it "might be the least essential Jackson hit of its era." [10]
The music video was directed by Piers Plowden and premiered in mid-1993. [11] Keith Urban makes an appearance in the video as a guitar player. [12]
Jackson's rendition was used by the Ford Motor Company for Ford pickup truck commercials, changing the line "crazy 'bout a Mercury" to "crazy 'bout a Ford truck." [13] Jackson performed the original "Mercury" version of the song live "in-studio" on an episode of the hit ABC sitcom Home Improvement in 1996. [14] The David Lindley version appeared on the "Florence Italy" episode of Miami Vice on February 14, 1986. [15]
Chart (1993) | Peak position |
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Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [16] | 2 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [17] | 2 |
Chart (1993) | Position |
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Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [18] | 29 |
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)