Жанис Джоплиннің "Mercedes Benz" әнінің тарихы

the Janis Joplin and Bob Neuwirth song

"Mercedes Benz" is an a cappella song written by the American singer Janis Joplin with Bob Neuwirth and the poet Michael McClure. The song was originally recorded by Joplin. A straightforward reading of the song lyrics indicate that the song is about the desire for possessions and pleasure, but at least one writer considers it to be a rejection of consumerism. The lyrics were inspired by the first line of a song written by the San Francisco beat poet Michael McClure, "Come on, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz." Joplin heard it sung by a friend of McClure's, and she began to sing it too. At the Port Chester bar, Joplin sang the line a few times and began riffing on McClure lyrics, while Neuwirth copied the new lyrics onto bar napkins, which he kept for years afterwards. She sang the new version for the first time that night at her concert at Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. In the song, Joplin asks God to prove his love for her by buying her a Mercedes Benz automobile, a color TV (then a luxury item), and a "night on the town." There is also a reference to Dialing for Dollars, a franchised format local television program, which required a person to be watching the show to win a prize when the show called the person’s phone number, hence the singer's need for a TV. It was the last song Joplin recorded before her death. The song was recorded in one take during a recording session on October 1, 1970. These were the last tracks Joplin ever recorded as she died three days later, on October 4. The song appeared on the album Pearl, released in 1971. The song title, as listed on that album, contains no hyphen although the actual automobile brand name is hyphenated as Mercedes Benz. In 2003, Joplin's recording was remixed, adding a beat and a background melody. The remixed version was included on collections of Joplin's greatest hits.

The pianist Glenn Gould used the song prominently in the third and final radio documentary he made for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1977. The documentary, titled The Quiet in the Land, is part of what is often referred to as Gould's Solitude Trilogy. The song was used in the 1989 mini series Bangkok Hilton and in opening of the 2008 German film Der Baader Meinhof Komplex. The song has been used several times in car advertisements. Mercedes Benz used it in television commercials for their cars as early as 1995. The song appeared again in an advertisement which aired on February 6, 2011, during a Super Bowl commercial in addition to advertisements in 2007. Another commercial, for the BMW Z3, had the driver listening to a cassette tape of the song, frowning after Mercedes Benz was mentioned, and throwing the tape out of the car after the Porsche is mentioned. In 2011, on the initiative of the British music and lifestyle BLAG Magazine, singer and songwriter Estelle, rapper and producer David Banner and the musician Daley composed the new song "Benz", inspired by Joplin's "Mercedes Benz". In a 2012 episode of the British TV Series Citizen Khan, the title character sings his own version when driving his yellow Mercedes. "Oh lord bought me a Mercedes Benz. My friends all drive Datsuns. They are infidels." In the 2019–2020 Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the song is mentioned by Sara Lance as being the final song recorded by Joplin. In the show's fictional timeline, history was altered to make Joplin's last song "Little Robot Man.”