Origin: Mercedes Benz (Janis Joplin)

Subject: Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
From: Sandy
Date: 01 May 98 - 07:30 AM

Who sings it? What CD is it on?

Can anyone tell me?

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 01 May 98 - 07:43 AM

the late Janis Joplin on any of her anthologies.

Why not try a little searching on your own behalf. it's not difficult give it a go

Regards Ted

Subject: RE: Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 01 May 98 - 08:16 AM

You'll also find an interesting - and more "twangy" - version on "Words of Earnest", a Columbia LP by Goose Creek Symphony, circa 1971.

Subject: RE: Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
From: Bill D
Date: 01 May 98 - 10:15 AM

I never knew that 'somebody' sang it...me & friends of mine sing it! It's just one of those things everybody knows! *wink*

Subject: RE: Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 01 May 98 - 01:36 PM

Sandy.....

You'll find the lyric in the DT.

Janis Joplin did it on her "Pearl" album.

........Tiger

Subject: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes Ben
From:
Date: 23 Sep 99 - 02:11 PM

Help, I need the lyrics for the song: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes Benz. I am not sure if that is the title, but that is one of the main lines in the song.

Than

Subject: Lyr Add: MERCEDES BENZ (from Janis Joplin)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Sep 99 - 02:17 PM

...two renditions I harvested a while back....

MERCEDES BENZ
- words and music by Janis Joplin and Michael McClure
- lyrics as recorded by Janis Joplin on the 1971 album "Pearl"
(Columbia VCK-30322)

I'd like to do a song of great social and political import.
It goes like this...

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?
"Dialing for Dollars" is trying to find me
I wait for delivery each day until three
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
I'm counting on you Lord, please don't let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
Everybody!

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

That's it (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha)

Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin

Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
All My friends drive Porches I must make amends
I worked hard all my lifetime with no help from my friends
Oh Lord won't you but me a Mercedes Benz

Oh Lord won't you buy me a color TV
Dialing for dollars is trying to find me
I wait for delivery each day until three
Oh Lord won't you buy me a color TV

(Repeat first verse)

(FYI) Here's another verse It goes:

Oh Lord won't you buy me a kilo of weed
All my friend snort cocaine and even take speed
I know there are good buds out there to be found
Oh Lord won't you buy me at least one more pound


(also sent to requester by e-mail)

Note that it's "Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes. Even the Big Guy has to pay, if it's a Mercedes...

Subject: RE: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 01 Sep 02 - 11:55 PM

The song and the tune are in the DigiTrad. However, the midi in the database just doesn't sound right to me, either when I download and play it, or when I convert it using Musictime print it and play it on my own (with my uke).

I can't figure out why it doens't sound right(It goes up someplaces where I think it should go down, and the meter is funny). Is it correct? Does anyone have a different midi, or even better, the music?

JAB

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 12:31 AM

Yikes! That midi in the DT is ALL wrong. Sounds like a timid old woman who can't quite remember a hymn.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 02:46 AM

Are you sure it's the DT that's wrong and not just that Janis' version is her own. After all if you put the Animals 'House of the Rising Sun' back to back with the original, few would recognise it as the same song....

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: JJ
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 09:38 AM

Quite possibly the only pop song co-authored by a Beat poet ("Dark Brown") and playwright ("The Beard") whose sexually explicit work seemed to raise the authorities' hackles wherever he went.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: Hecate
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 11:10 AM

The version I'd picked up went "Oh Lord won't you buy me a colour TV Hughie Green and new faces been trying to reach me."

I guess that's the folk process for you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 12:48 PM

What! Another version than the one by Janis Joplin? Say it ain't so.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Lord won't you give me a Mercedes
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 04:39 PM

As shown above, Janis is credited with coauthoring both the lyrics and the tune. The folk process seems to have kicked in after her album "Pearl" came out. Other recordings inlcude Taj Mahal, and I've found a live version by Mellisa Etheridge, but I don't know where it came from. None sound like the Midi.

JAB