Smith's debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in May 2014 on Capitol Records UK. The album's lead single, "Lay Me Down", was released prior to "La La La". The album's second single, "Money on My Mind", became Smith's second number one single in the UK. The third single, "Stay with Me", was an international success, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while their singles "I'm Not the Only One" and "Like I Can" reached the top ten in the UK. The album won four awards, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
For Smith's and Jimmy Napes's song "Writing's on the Wall", the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), Smith won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith's second studio album, The Thrill of It All, was released in November 2017 and debuted atop the UK and US album charts. The lead single, "Too Good at Goodbyes", reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US. They released the single "Promises" with Calvin Harris, which peaked at number one in the UK. Smith released "Dancing with a Stranger" with Normani in 2019, which reached the top ten in the UK and the US and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards, and followed it by releasing a string of commercially successful singles "How Do You Sleep?", "To Die For" and "I'm Ready" with Demi Lovato; all of which feature on Smith's third album, Love Goes.
Smith has won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award through their career. Smith has been publicly gay since 2014, genderqueer since 2017, and has used they/them pronouns since 2019.
Show a Little Mercy
Sam Smith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"Baby what you need?"
Ask me, "can I bring a friend
Do you got drinks, wanna eat, me, you eat"
And now you act like you don't have the time of day
When anything I'd ask you, you would find a way
Don't you miss the way a nigga hit it?
Don't you miss the time we were spending?
Baby you was mine, you was with it
Where he got you hiding? Tryna find you babe
Cause every time I call, you decline me babe
Oh, you ain't gotta tell me I know
We'll never be the same as before
But I can only tell you how I feel right now
I'm missing how you feel right now
You can call when you're man ain't around, I gotcha
Oh, how you gonna act like that? I just don't get it
Tell me does he do it, do you do it just like we did it?
Clock stop tocking, guess I ran out of minutes
I can hear your heart, is it saying that we've finished?
Girl we was the best, how could you
How could you, how could you forget?
He must treat you good, bet he does
He must be the man I never was
No response, no reply, every time I try to get through
So when you hear this on the radio, it's about you
(How soon we forget, it can't be over
He gon' ask who taught you that)
You never did this before, you wasn't hitting ignore
I had you tending on shores
You got the man, is you sure?
You got the man is you sure?
He don't know you like I know you
He don't know like you like them hoes too, he's not supposed to
You was experimenting, we was just trying shit
That's just what young bitches go through
I made you pretty, you was just hopeful
I was like diddy, you were my total
You were my cassie, you was just local
Showed you the world, I made you global
The song "Show a Little Mercy" by Sam Smith talks about the regret and longing felt by the singer towards a past lover who used to be available to him but now is distant and unresponsive. The lyrics speak of the frustration and disappointment felt towards the lover's current behavior and the nostalgia felt towards the times when they were together. The singer is clearly missing the physical intimacy they shared and missing the way they used to spend time together.
The lyrics also suggest that the lover is now with someone else, and the singer acknowledges that they will never be the same as before. Despite this, the singer cannot help but express their feelings towards the lover and how they miss them. The chorus talks about not understanding the lover's behavior towards the singer and wondering if they are missing them too. The song ends with the singer expressing that they know the lover will hear the song and the message is meant for them.
Overall, "Show a Little Mercy" is a powerful ballad that captures the emotional turmoil felt by someone who misses their past lover but understands that they may never be able to get back to how things were before. It is a testament to the human need for connection and the pain of longing for someone who is no longer a part of your life.
Line by Line Meaning
You used to fall through when I call like
You used to answer me every time I called
"Baby what you need?"
You would always ask me what I needed
Ask me, "can I bring a friend
When we would get together, you would ask if it was okay to bring a friend
Do you got drinks, wanna eat, me, you eat"
You would always ask if I wanted drinks or food when we hung out
And now you act like you don't have the time of day
Now you seem to be too busy for me or don't want to make time for me
When anything I'd ask you, you would find a way
Before, you would always make time for me and find a way to help me out in any way possible
Don't you miss the way a nigga hit it?
Do you miss the way we used to be intimate?
Sucking and I'm licking while I kiss it
Remember how we used to please each other?
Don't you miss the time we were spending?
Do you miss the time we spent together?
Baby you was mine, you was with it
You were my girl and you were into it
Where he got you hiding? Tryna find you babe
I'm trying to find out where you're hiding from me
Cause every time I call, you decline me babe
You always decline my calls and don't want to talk to me
Oh, you ain't gotta tell me I know
I don't need you to tell me, I already know
We'll never be the same as before
Things won't be the way they were between us
But I can only tell you how I feel right now
I just want to express how I'm feeling at the moment
I'm missing how you feel right now
I'm missing the intimacy we used to have
You can call when you're man ain't around, I gotcha
You can still call me when your man is not around and I'll be there for you
Oh, how you gonna act like that? I just don't get it
I don't understand why you're acting this way towards me
Tell me does he do it, do you do it just like we did it?
I'm wondering if your current man does things to you the way we used to do it
Clock stop tocking, guess I ran out of minutes
Time seems to have stopped ticking, and I feel like I'm running out of time with you
I can hear your heart, is it saying that we've finished?
I can sense that things between us are over
Girl we was the best, how could you
We were great together, I don't understand why you left
How could you, how could you forget?
How could you forget about what we had?
He must treat you good, bet he does
I'm sure that your current man treats you well
He must be the man I never was
He must be the kind of man that I could never be
No response, no reply, every time I try to get through
You never respond or reply to me when I try to reach out
So when you hear this on the radio, it's about you
This song is about you and how I feel about what we had together
(How soon we forget, it can't be over
It's too soon for us to forget what we had between us and for it to be over
He gon' ask who taught you that)
Your current man will probably ask who taught you the things we used to do together
You never did this before, you wasn't hitting ignore
You never used to ignore me or do things like that before
I had you tending on shores
I had your attention and you were committed to me
You got the man, is you sure?
Are you sure that your current man is the one for you?
He don't know you like I know you
Your current man doesn't know you the way I know you
He don't know like you like them hoes too, he's not supposed to
He doesn't know that you also like other men; he's not supposed to know that
You was experimenting, we was just trying shit
You were just trying things out and experimenting, while we were trying things together
That's just what young bitches go through
That's just what young people go through when exploring relationships
I made you pretty, you was just hopeful
I helped you become more confident and beautiful, and you were just hoping for a brighter future
I was like diddy, you were my total
I treated you like how Diddy treated Cassie; you were everything to me
You were my cassie, you was just local
You were like my Cassie - a local girl that I fell in love with
Showed you the world, I made you global
I introduced you to new experiences and showed you the world; I helped broaden your horizons
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Paula Morgan
on Stay with Me
this man has the most amazing voice
Laura Salomon
on Stay with Me
Love this song...
Chanty Medina-Cuesta
on Stay with Me
love this man
Jeannie Smith
on Stay with Me
I like this.