"Mercury Blues" is a song written by rural blues musician

K. C. Douglas K. C. Douglas (November 21, 1913 – October 18, 1975) was an American rural blues singer and guitarist. His given names were initials only. Career Born in Sharon, Mississippi, Douglas moved to Vallejo, California in 1945 to work in the naval ...

and Robert Geddins, and first recorded by Douglas in 1948.Leadbitter, M. and Slaven, N., ''Blues Records 1943 to 1970 Vol. 1: A-K'', London: Record Information Services 2nd Ed. 1987, p. 362 The song, originally titled "Mercury Boogie," pays homage to the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

automobile marque, which ended production in 2010. Rights to the song were purchased by the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

(who already owned the Mercury marque). Ford, in turn, used it for a television commercial featuring Alan Jackson singing his version of the song with the word "Mercury" replaced by the words "Ford Truck." Allmusic biography/ref> The song has been covered by many musicians. Among the most notable versions are ones by country musician

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

in 1993, and by rock musician David Lindley, from his 1981 album '' El Rayo-X''. Lindley's single peaked at number 34 on the ''

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chart.

Alan Jackson version

American country music artist

recorded the song for his album, ''

A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love) ''A Lot about Livin' (and a Little 'bout Love)'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on October 6, 1992, and produced the singles, "Chattahoochee", "She's Got the Rhythm (and I Got the Blues) ...

''. 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 Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

(now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) chart and the ''RPM'' Country Tracks in Canada.

Critical reception

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."

Music video

The music video was directed by Piers Plowden and premiered in mid-1993.

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

makes an appearance in the video as a guitar player.

In popular culture

His rendition was used by the

for Ford

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

commercials, changing the line "crazy 'bout a Mercury" to "crazy 'bout a Ford truck." Jackson performed the original "Mercury" version of the song live "in-studio" on an episode of the hit

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sitcom ''

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'' in 1996. The David Lindley version appeared on the "Florence Italy" episode of ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

'' on February 14, 1986.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1948 songs 1993 singles David Lindley (musician) songs Alan Jackson songs Songs about cars Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Arista Nashville singles Mercury (automobile)