Who wrote Marvin Gaye's hit "Mercy Mercy Me"?

Marvin Gaye wrote “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” the environmentally focused hit from his landmark 1971 album What’s Going On.

The song was written solely by Gaye, unlike the album’s title track, which he co-wrote with Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Al Cleveland. Gaye also produced and performed the recording, making “Mercy Mercy Me” a particularly personal statement within the album’s broader meditation on war, poverty, social injustice, and human suffering.

Released as the album’s second single in 1971, the song helped bring environmental concerns into mainstream soul and pop music. Its lyrics reference pollution, poisoned air, overcrowding, and damage to the natural world—subjects that were becoming increasingly prominent in public debate during the early 1970s.

A common mix-up is confusing this song with other tracks on What’s Going On that had multiple writers. “Mercy Mercy Me” is credited to Gaye alone, while the album’s final single, “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” was co-written by Gaye and James Nyx Jr. The song’s full title is often shortened to simply “Mercy Mercy Me.”