80's Mercedes

Album: Hero (2016)
Charted: 74
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Maren Morris sings here of her love for a classic 1980s Mercedes convertible.

    The suns in the sky, glitter on the seats
    You can try, but the Benz is hard to beat


    The singer admitted to Billboard that she does not actually own a Mercedes Benz. "I have a Prius," she said. "But I'd love to have a white convertible like Richard Gere's in American Gigolo."
  • Back in 1971, Janis Joplin sang "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?" In that instance, Joplin got the idea for the song after riding in Bobby Womack's new Mercedes 600.
  • Here are some Mercedes fun facts from The Encyclopedia of Trivia:

    Mercedes was a brand in the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) which began to develop in 1901. It was created by Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek who had been racing DMG automobiles under the pseudonym Mercédès, named after his daughter, Mercédès Jellinek.

    On January 28, 1938, a new World Land Speed Record on a public road was set in Germany at 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph). That record, set by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen, still stands.

    Adolf Hitler had a special Mercedes touring car with a special seat which could be raised up so that he could be more easily seen when he rode through the streets.

    Mercedes-Benz was the first automobile manufacturer to offer a compact disc player as a factory option in 1984.

    The Mercedes-Benz motto is "Das Beste oder Nichts" which means "the best or nothing."
  • This is Maren Morris' second car-related single following "My Church." The singer told Taste of Country that she gets ideas for her tunes behind the wheel. "I think I'm more of a road person," Morris said. "I love taking drives. I get a lot of my inspiration for songs there."
  • The song's video clip was shot by Canadian video director Alon Isocianu, who has also worked with Kelly Clarkson ("Invincible," "Piece by Piece."). It shows Morris taking the titular Mercedes for a spin through a backdrop of glowing sunsets and neon lights. The singer said:

    "'80s Mercedes' was a music video in my mind from the day we wrote it. I wanted the visuals to feel really neon, hyper stylized and fun. Like a graphic novel on acid. Alon's vision matched the song perfectly and I couldn't picture a more fitting representation of the song!"

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