2:42
I've Been Doin' Some Thinkin', 1968
Written by Mose Allison
Like a lot of singer-songwriter fans of my generation, I was introduced to this song by Elvis Costello on his 1995 covers album, Kojak Variety. (The only other thing I know about Mose Allison is that Greg Brown wrote a song about revering him.) The original is a slow burn, with Allison's nightclub piano lines giving his quiet vocal delivery a sparse but apt accompaniment. The song itself is a complaint about the hypocrisy of our times ("Everybody's crying peace on earth / Just as soon as we win this war"). The title is usually cited as "Everybody's Cryin' Mercy," but on the original album it is given without the verb; why did subsequent covers change it?
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