In March 2006 Jackson Browne and David Lindley toured Spain, accompanied by the percussionist Tino di Geraldo. Seven shows there, were followed by four in the UK. These concerts were recorded for Browne’s fourth live collection, entitled “Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino”. I attended the show at the beautiful Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo. Midway through the set, Lindley took the lead vocal on two songs, both from his 1981 début album, “El Rayo-X”. First came the title track, which was followed by ‘Mercury Blues’. The song had been written in the late 1940’s by K.C. Douglas and Robert Geddins and was originally titled ‘Mercury Boogie’. It’s one of several covers on “El Rayo-X”, which Browne co-produced alongside Greg Ladanyi. On that record, ‘Mercury Blues’ hits the ground running in a high-energy burst of lap steel guitar from Lindley and power percussion from British drummer Ian Wallace, formerly of King Crimson.
The song’s attraction for me lies in its insistent rhythm and driving beat, driving being the operative word. As post-war austerity gave way to increasing affluence, the car became a kind of cultural icon, a tangible form of the American Dream. In Douglas and Geddins’ lyric, owning a Mercury is merely aspirational –
“If I had money, tell you what I’d do
I’d go downtown and buy a Mercury or two”.
Improved economic circumstances are in evidence in the 1955 film “Rebel Without A Cause” where it’s a Mercury Eight that James Dean’s teenage character Jim drives. There’s a fatal car accident in the movie and with grim irony Dean was to die on a stretch of Californian highway before the film was released.
Jack Kerouac celebrated the freedom of the open road in his 1957 Beat Generation novel “On The Road” but eventually the automobile would take on a less romanticised image. Janis Joplin’s ‘Mercedes Benz’ was a satire on consumerism, while for Bruce Springsteen the car becomes a means of escape from a humdrum existence in ‘Thunder Road’ and ‘Born To Run’. But in ‘Mercury Blues’ it’s all about the ride –
“I’m gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road”.
The number of notable covers is testament to the appeal and versatility of the song. On their 1976 album “Fly Like An Eagle” the Steve Miller Band stick with a traditional blues treatment while the Brian Setzer Orchestra are in Stray Cats rockabilly mode and Meat Loaf emulates David Lindley’s vocal style and instrumental arrangement.
Alan Jackson went full-on country, his 1993 version giving the song its greatest commercial success with a young Keith Urban making several fleeting appearances in the official video. By this time the Ford Motor Company had obtained the rights and in 1999 featured the song in a TV commercial with the line “Crazy ‘bout a Mercury” amended to “Crazy ‘bout a Ford truck”. Despite such liberties, ‘Mercury Blues’ has endured for nigh on eighty years.
