Mashup artist Lenlow created the track “Mercedes Beck,” by using the vocals from Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” and both music and vocals from Beck’s “Go It Alone.”.We are alerted to the fact that “Mercedes Beck” is a mashup from the very beginning. Joplin states, “I’d like to do a song of great social and political import,” as she does ironically at the beginning of her source track. Immediately after this, drums, handclaps, and the bass line from “Go It Alone” enter. Joplin sings her verses over this backing from Beck, but Beck performs his own verse and chorus sections alone – these parts are lifted directly from “Go It Alone” with no additions from “Mercedes Benz.”
This mashup was probably relatively easy to construct. First, no pitch shifting was done; the songs have the same tonic pitch in their original versions (E-flat). Second, “Go It Alone” was slowed down by a very small amount to fit with Joplin’s tempo. Finally, “Mercedes Benz” is an a cappella track. Joplin’s singing is accompanied only by a very faint drum beat (or perhaps Joplin herself tapping her foot on something). It should be noted that ease of construction doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the quality or affect that a mashup may produce. It may indeed be one of the reasons motivating a mashup artist’s initial choice of two particular songs. Despite the fact that Joplin begins the track with her tongue-in-cheek statement about what’s to come, Beck seems to be the one in charge during most of this mashup. The drums, handclaps, and bassline seem to add an element of polish to Joplin’s raw, potentially unfinished-sounding song. And, as mentioned before, Joplin is completely pushed out of the mix during the chorus. The other verse and chorus sections, though part of a mashup, involve no mashing, and are the exact choruses from “Go It Alone” by Beck. He performs all of the music, and sings just as much as Janis Joplin does (not counting her brief, spoken intro and outro). Does Beck take over this mashup because he wants to “go it alone”? Or is Joplin forced into the background because of her lack of technical know-how?