In “Strange Mercy,” the album’s title track, Clark reflects back on the imprisonment of her father in 2010 following his involvement in a stock fraud scheme, and how her family handled the news and subsequent separation from each other.
During a 2011 interview with AV Club, the song was the first one written for the album, acting as the thematic core for the rest of the Strange Mercy record:
I thought that little coupling of words was pretty compelling. I wanted to write other songs that were, in effect, other instances of strange mercy, or contained instances of strange mercy."
Expand
+25
1
Share
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning