The Philosophy of Modern Song: Everybody Cryin’ Mercy

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Tony Attwood

 

 

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By Tony Attwood

One of the great delights of Bob’s post-doctorate book, the “Philosophy of Modern Song”  is that (for me at least) it constantly throws up songs and afrtists that I don’t know – or maybe did know but have now forgotten.

The song Bob chose from Mose Allison has been recorded by multiple artists, multiple times, including of course, by the composer himself as above.

In essence, it is a very simple song, but what makes it so memorable and such a wonderful composition is the way the composer has integrated the jazz chords with the melody.  Even if you don’t read music or play a chord-based instrument, you’ll probably recognise that these chords are not part of the normal structure of songs….

G7         Db9         C9#11        D7#5

I don't believe the things I'm seein'

Just listening to the change from G7 and Db is enough to make many of us realise that this is a fairly unusual way of opening a song with two chords, but no, there is more to it than this.   For what we’ve got is Db9, which means that an Eb note is added to the standard Db chord.  As for when we get to C9#11, what we actually have to find are the notes of C, E, G (which are in the C chord) plus D (which is the 9th), plus an F#, which is the sharped 11th and in classic musical terms has nothing to do with the chord of C.

Now, in trying to illuminate this, what various websites then do is show you how to play that on the guitar, but of course Mose Allison plays these chords on the piano, which is what gives the pieces its very particular sound.   With this version, we can get a real insight into just what is within the song….

I utterly love this version….

Now I could go on listening to the different versions of this song all day long, but I appreciate you might want to get back to actual Bob Dylan things, so what I will give here is a site which takes you to around no less than 40 different versions of the song.  And if you think that is a bit over the top, I would say, do just try one or two, just to see what is going on….

Mose John Allison was born in 1927 and died in 2016, and was known for the way he mixed blues and modern jazz, doing so perhaps more successfully than any other songwriter.  He was considered one of the greatest (some would say THE greatest) of the blues composers in the mid to late 20th century.

Pete Townshend, Georgie Fame, John Mayall and the Clash, among many others, became aware of his work and recorded some of his compositions as well as including them in their shows.

What’s more, it is often noted that the music of Mose Allison influenced composers throughout the 20th century.  I am not sure if we can say that he also influenced Dylan, but it is certainly most interesting to find that Bob included Mose Allison in his Philosophy, and once more shows the depth of Bob’s awareness of contemporary music’s evolution.

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