| "Merry Go 'Round" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byKacey Musgraves | ||||
| from the albumSame Trailer Different Park | ||||
| Released | September 10, 2012 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:28 | |||
| Label | Mercury Nashville | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producers |
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| Kacey Musgraves singles chronology | ||||
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"Merry Go 'Round" is the debut single by Americancountry music artistKacey Musgraves. It was released in September 2012 as the lead single from her debut albumSame Trailer Different Park. Musgraves co-wrote and co-produced the song withShane McAnally, with additional writing fromJosh Osborne and production assistance fromLuke Laird.
"Merry Go 'Round" won theGrammy Award forBest Country Song at the56th Grammy Awards.[1]
The song is a cynical observation on life in the American heartland.[2] It uses samples of the nursery rhymeMary, Mary, Quite Contrary as a continued play-on-words. The latter part of the song retells another traditional nursery rhyme,Jack and Jill, in a modernized fashion. It is in the key ofF-sharp major, in a 2/2time signature with an approximate tempo of 88beats per minute.[3] The song's main accompaniment is guitar and banjo.
The song's plays on words in the chorus are only made possible by theGeneral Americanmerger ofMary,marry andmerry.
Giving it 4.5 stars out of 5, Billy Dukes of Taste of Country compared the song's style and Musgraves' voice favorably toMiranda Lambert.[2] It received a "thumbs up" from Juli Thanki of Engine 145, who said that Musgraves "writes with a maturity beyond her 24 years, delivering an unflinching look into small-town life that’s more nuanced than the highly romanticized rural anthems offered up by many of her male counterparts."[4]
It also made "NPR Music's 100 Favorite Songs of 2012" list.[5] It was number 1 onBillboard's "10 Best Country Singles of 2013" list.[6]
Rolling Stone named it the 49th best single of 2012.[7] It was also ranked number 362 in the 2021 revision ofRolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[8]
Directed by Perry Bean, the music video premiered in September 2012.[9]
"Merry Go 'Round" peaked at No. 14 on theHot Country Songs chart.[1] The song reached the top 10 of theBillboardCountry Airplay chart. The song has sold 825,000 copies in the US as of February 2014.[10]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[18] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Studio albums | |
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| Soundtracks | |
| Singles | |
| Featured singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Concert tours | |
| Television | |
