Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is a jazz tune written by Joe Zawinul in 1966 for the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. It appears on the album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at The Club, released in December 1966, and became a surprise hit in February 1967. The track is a soul jazz piece in B flat major with a 20-bar structure and a bluesy feel, featuring Zawinul's Wurlitzer electric piano — the instrument previously used by Ray Charles. The original lineup includes Cannonball Adderley on alto sax, Nat Adderley on cornet, Joe Zawinul on piano and electric piano, Victor Gaskin on bass and Roy McCurdy on drums. It reached number 2 on the Soul chart and number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been covered many times, including Marlena Shaw's lyric version in 1967 (No. 58 on Billboard) and The Buckinghams' hit version that same year (No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100).
