"'Mercy' is probably one of my favorite songs, and it was one of the first ones I wrote. I was looking for inspiration, and one inspiration for me is rhythm. I was working with a guy named Jon Taylor-not the Duran Duran guy. I said, 'Dude, can you put me some rhythms together? I want to write while I go to Europe .' So he made some rhythm loops for me, and on one loop he put this little guitar riff and he sang, 'It's going to be alright, it's going to be okay.' That was all he sang, just those two lines. I'm digging the groove, and he comes in every now and then, singing, 'It's going to be alright, it's going to be okay,' and I started singing around it. His voice was just so relaxed, so laid back, and I wrote this chorus all around it. All of a sudden someone else is singing the hook, the chorus.
"I worked on it with the band at the time, and James Harrah and Mark Browne would sing, 'It's going to be alright, it's going to be okay.' I even brought David Crosby down, but it didn't quite fit his voice. Then C.J. Vanston [who played bass and keyboards on the album] brought this girl in to sing backgrounds, which I never do. Her name is Bernie Barlow and I love the way her voice sounded. I thought, 'Oh, that's sexy, it feels good.'" - Melissa Etheridge
Well I have lived ten years plus ten And ten and ten again I have seen too much to pretend Then you wanted to come in I have survived all of the lies They made me wise The locks and walls and the peace it buys Still when I look into your eyes It's a surprise when you say
It's gonna be all right It's gonna be okay Just hold on tight Let it all go away
Oh mercy mercy baby What do you want from me
Well I plead mercy mercy baby I do not know what this all means It's been awhile since I been stylin' In just my jacket and my jeans It hurts to walk it hurts to talk It hurts to think about it Shout about it Could I be sure without a doubt That you could never live without me
I want to fall in you crawl in you Surrender all in you now Could I be sure in you pure in you Finding the cure in you Now I plead have mercy on me
Now I am kneeling at the alter In the temple of your eyes And I am asking for a miracle I have been too long paralyzed When you say get up and stand up And climb the rope of hope And open up again Oh the peace you say is promised me Seems too much to comprehend