Mercy | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: G5 (D F) :|| x4
Hit the beat and take it to the verse, now.
| G G6 | G7 G6 |
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
| G G6 | G7 G6 | D7sus4 D9 | C7 C6 | G G6 | G7 |
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Verse 1
||: G5 (D F) | G5 (D F) :||
I love you, but I gotta stay true.
My morals got me on my knees, I’m begging, please, stop playing games.
||: D7sus4 D9 | C7 C6 | G5 (D F) | G5 (D F) :||
I don’t know what this is ‘cause you got me good, just like you knew you would.
I don’t know what you do but you do it well, I’m under your spell.
Chorus 1
| G G6 | G7 G6 |
You got me begging you for mercy (yeah, yeah, yeah).
| G G6 | G7 G6 |
Why won’t you release me (yeah, yeah, yeah)?
| C C6 | C7 C6 |
You got me begging you for mercy (yeah, yeah, yeah).
| G G6 | G7 G6 |
Why won’t you release me (yeah, yeah, yeah)?
| D D7 D6 | C C7 C6 | G G6 | G7 G6 |
I said release (yeah, yeah, yeah) me (yeah, yeah, yeah).
Verse 2
Now you think that I, will be something on the side.
But you got to understand that I need a man who can take my hand, yes I do.
I don’t know what this is, ’cause you got me good, just like you knew you would.
| D7sus4 D9 | C7 C6 | G5 (D F) | G5 (bend b5) |
I don’t know what you do but you do it well, I’m under your spell.
Chorus 2
You got me begging you for mercy (yeah, yeah, yeah).
Why won’t you release me (yeah, yeah, yeah)?
You got me begging you for mercy (yeah, yeah, yeah).
Why won’t you release me (yeah, yeah, yeah)?
I said you’d better release (yeah, yeah, yeah). Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Breakdown
||: N.C | N.C :||
I’m begging you for mercy (you look at me and think we’re the same kind, ‘cause you don’t know what I got and).
Yes, why won’t you release me (I’m gonna get more than I’m asking for but I just don’t want to waste my time)?
I’m begging you for mercy (You know that I’ll be the other girl, just like there’s nothing in this world).
| N.C | N.C | N.C | (bend b5) |
You got me begging. You got me begging. You got me begging (I know that I’m gonna get me some, I just don’t know where to get it from).
Chorus 3
Mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
You got me begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Chorus 4
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I’m begging you for mercy (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why won’t you release me, yeah! yeah!
Outro
||: G5 (D F) :|| to fade
Break it down. Mercy, begging you for mercy.
(Believe me) You got me begging, down on my knees.
I said, you got me begging, begging you for mercy
You got me begging. Eeeeh, eeeeh…
Mercy Chords: Learn the progressions
The chords for Duffy‘s Mercy are much more complex than I used to think when I played it at seemingly every gig back in 2010.
At the time, I dismissed this as a blues-style tune in the key of G that I could play whatever I liked over.
As I now, many years later sit down and transcribe it, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t play it right all those years ago, there are some great chord riffs in Mercy well worth looking into.
These chords have all sorts of extensions which, to really understand, you need TAB for. Once you’ve seen this, just using the chords and lyrics above makes complete sense.
Here’s a direct link to the TAB lesson: Mercy – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The TAB details how to play the chords you see above with lyrics, I finally got them right, what a shame no band is playing this awesome tune anymore!
I guess it is only of interest now for those who would like to study this blues/soul chord progression style that we’ve seen so many variations on since the ’60s. Can I Get A Witness comes to mind now as one of the first and then there are many, many more examples since.
If you want to write a hit like Mercy yourself, you should probably look into exactly how Duffy/her producers did it.
The devil is in the detail as they say and to understand this world of chords, you need to dig deep by transcribing properly and comparing what you find to similar tunes, or, you could just let me do it for you!
Having discovered how the TAB is hitting all these chord extensions, a chord chart is all you need. Here’s one I made for you.
Mercy Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Mercy Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Mercy iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Mercy was a standard for a few years in the U.K.!
In 2008, and for the next three or four years, Mercy by Duffy was as common on the set list as Valerie and Rolling In The Deep.
Then, in a sadistic twist of fate, Duffy was kidnapped and sexually abused. She withdrew from public life and so did the tune everyone had been dancing to every Saturday night.
During the same time as Duffy was active, the U.K. saw more female singers rise to fame, most notably Amy Winehouse who died from a misadventure in 2011, and Adele who has become more and more famous since.
These three singers were more Soul and Blues than Ellie Golding and Jessie J who occupied the pop space around the same time.
Mercy Chords | Related Pages
Mercy | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn how to play Mercy by Duffy using TAB and chord analysis.
| G5 (D F) | G5 (D F) | G5 (D F) | G5 (D F) |
I love you, but I gotta stay true…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Duffy tunes
With her debut album Rockferry, Duffy took the world by storm, charting in the top 10 in 23 countries before she mysteriously disappeared.
Her best tunes on the debut include Mercy, Warwick Avenue, Syrup & Honey, and Stepping Stone.
Duffy on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Mercy’s chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.
