Songfacts®:

• "Mercy, Mercy" was written and originally recorded in 1964 by Don Covay, an American soul singer The Rolling Stones admired. Covay worked with Little Richard in the '50s before forming Don Covay and the Goodtimers in 1964. He also wrote "Chain Of Fools" and "See Saw," which were both hits for Aretha Franklin.
  
  Early on, The Stones did a lot of cover songs, typically rocking out R&B tracks by American artists. For many US listeners, the first time they heard these songs was the Rolling Stones covers.
• In this heartache tune, the singer is absolutely despondent and will do anything to keep his girl from leaving him. The melody is jaunty enough to take the edge off lyrics like, "I'm gonna make it to the nearest river, child, and jump overboard and drown."
• This was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago and engineered by Ron Malo, who had worked with Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson and Chuck Berry, and engineered the first songs The Stones recorded in the US. He went on to work with other blues greats, including Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• "Mercy Mercy" got a rare live outing when The Rolling Stones performed it during their concert at the FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on July 3, 2019. "It's a long time ago, so we're going to try to remember it," Mick Jagger told the audience before playing the song.
  
  The previous time the band had played "Mercy Mercy" was at their Hyde Park show on July 6, 1969, days after the death of Brian Jones.