‘Mercy Mercy Me’: The Marvin Gaye song that shows his ideals for living
By 1971, Marvin Gaye was well on his way to becoming the Prince of Soul he’s remembered as. His hit song ‘What’s Going On’ shot to the top of the charts as the Motown musician began to turn his attention to singing about more social and political issues, inspired by the ongoing race inequality in America and beyond. As the lead single to his 1971 album of the same name, Gaye was no longer shying away from singing about the real things.
Previously, his work has stayed firmly within the traditional realms of Motown and soul. His earlier hits like ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) and ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ stuck to the typical topics of love and heartbreak, letting Gaye’s iconic vocals do the talking for him. His modern approach to the genre helped bring the music to the mainstream, working to desegregate the sound as he earned Billboard top 100 hits.
But by his eleventh album, Gaye wasn’t content to re-record more Motown standards or keep churning out tracks on the same sentiment. America was in the middle of a strange period. The optimism of the 1960s had faded as the hippies disappeared and the Vietnam War waged on. Issues of class, race and gender gripped the country as several fights for social inequality were being fought all at once. It seemed that America was in chaos, with hatred, suffering and injustice boiling over. In this context, Marvin Gaye didn’t want to just sing another song about love.
As he went into the studio to record What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye embarked on his most adventurous project yet, aiming to create a concept album in response to the country’s climate. Listening to the album from start to finish, a narrative reveals itself of a Vietnam veteran returning to America only to find it in disarray, leaving him shocked at the state of his homeland.
The titular single ‘What’s Going On’ looks back at Bloody Thursday, an act of police brutality committed against anti-war protestors in Berkeley in 1969. Elsewhere on the album, ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ tackles poverty and ghettoisation. But one track stands out as Marvin Gaye’s passion project, looking at his ideals for living.
‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ has become one of music’s most poignant and earlier tracks about the environment. As one of the first people to draw mainstream attention to environmentalism through music, this 1971 track was way ahead of its time. Throughout the track, Marvin Gaye asks, “Where did all the blue skies go?” or “What about this overcrowded land?” calling his listeners to pay attention to the planet they live on.
The track perfectly summarised Marvin Gaye’s ideals, with the singer saying, “I would like to become a man of power, and I would like to use it in a good fashion.” During an interview with Sounds in 1976, Gaye talked about his call to use his platform for good and his desire to reconnect with the earth. Dedicating his 1971 to talking about major social, political and ecological issues was part of his turn away from indulgence and towards helpfulness, as he said, “I would love to quit show-business and go after that knowledge and that power that the truly gifted sorcerer has. The power’s here, it’s in the rocks, it’s in the air, it’s in the animals.”
According to Gaye, this was his “idea of living”, rejecting the draw towards material things in favour of a more introspective, helpful and environmental life; “I would love to become an impeccable warrior, one who has no need for earthly things such as the wine, the women, the clothes and the diamonds, and the fine things to wear. I’d love to develop a distaste for those things and become only interested in knowledge and power that this earth will give us, if we’re only willing to put in the time and effort.”
You can see ‘Mercy Mercy Me’ as his first step in the right direction. He seemed to feel called to be a mouthpiece for these issues as one of a select group of people connected to the “super-knowledge” that could save the planet from destruction. In this track, through its soulful melody and mindful lyrics, Marvin Gaye is crying out, “If only we would adhere to certain laws that Mother Nature… THAT’S THE KEY!”
