Let The Truth Unfurl
Michael’s propensity for autobiographical writing was evident from his first published self-penned songs, which featured on the eponymously titled The Jacksons album, where they exist in the exquisite forms of Blues Away and Strength Of One Man. The leitmotifs of the state of the world, the struggle with fame and the femme fatale also began early in his songwriting career; featuring as they do, on both the Destiny and Triumph albums, which exhibit Bless His Soul and Things I do For You; and Can You Feel It and Heartbreak Hotel, respectively.
There is an absurd conspiracy theory promulgated by some, that denies Michael Jackson the talent of songwriting. Here was a man that grew up in the recording studio, who stood side-by-side with and studied the genius songwriter Stevie Wonder, as he honed his craft. Why wouldn’t Michael Jackson be able to write songs? Indeed, perhaps Michael’s most prolific songwriting period was during that time when he dueted with Stevie Wonder on Just Good Friends - though it is somewhat ironic that Just Good Friends was one of the only two tracks on the Bad album that Michael didn’t write. The prolificity of this period was further evidenced by last year’s release of the Bad 25 bonus disc, which featured an embarrassment of riches with regards demos for songs written around this time; although most eventually did see the light of day as finished tracks in one way or another, what with Free becoming Elizabeth I Love You and Price Of Fame becoming Who Is It. The chord sequence in Abortion Papers ultimately evolved into Jam. Now there’s a sentence.
Of course, Michael was by no-means a man to shy away from controversial socio-political matters. On the contrary, he considered it his duty as the most famous man in the world. As he stated at the Bollywood Awards in 2000, “I’ve always believed that the real measure of celebrity success was not just how famous he becomes, but what he does with that fame and fortune”. Though Abortion Papers, with its lyric, “Signing your name against the word of God”, was never officially released by Michael, and I can’t help but feel as if he’d have been happier if it never had been. Saying that, however, in Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Michael seemed quite happy to confront the issue of abortion, with his lyric, “Don’t think maybe, if you can’t feed your baby”.
As Frank Dileo said, in an interview with UK television immediately prior to the first 1988 Wembley concert, Michael said what he needed to say on the stage; and as Michael himself said, when Katherine asked him to respond to tabloid criticism and speculation: he said what he needed to through his music- a philosophy that would eventually bear the strange fruit that is the HIStory album: the really rather unique concept album of someone responding to an attempt to extort and destroy them using allegations of child molestation. (But, of course, Michael wasn’t a songwriter. He had his own hit factory – John Lennon in a cage, maybe? The ludicrous, racist, credit-napping, talent-undermining absurdity that this theory is.)
The Dangerous album, with hindsight, seems almost to have been a prophetic precursor to the catastrophic events that were about to unfold. The outro to Will You Be There, in particular, but also the more subtle reference to being “conditioned by the system” in Jam. In Why You Wanna Trip On Me – although not written by him – Michael waxes lyrical on the state of the world and the relative insignificance of his personal life, even inferring at one stage that AIDS is a man-made virus. Although the way he expresses the interjection “ha” after singing about “strange diseases” always makes me wonder if this is a dual reference to his, at-the-time-unannounced, vitiligo. After all, this was also the album that brought us the genre-amalgam hit, Black Or White – an attempt to unify different cultures through song using a mash-up of musical genres. You can call it a cynical ploy to appeal to a wider range of buyers, or you can call it a man using his leverage to bring about something positive, but I would say one need look no further than Heal The Word for the truth. He composed the entirety of that with the sole purpose of doing what he could to make the world a better place. It’s certainly not a ‘cool’ record, it left him wide-open to ridicule, and is a somewhat incongruous curiosity on the album as a whole. It is therefore intellectually disingenuous to claim it as part of a cynical ploy. Which other artist would knowingly jeopardise the critical reaction to their art? Who else would or could do that? Heal The World is a pacifier for the planet, and “We could really get there if you cared enough for the living.”
Give In To Me – originally mooted as a dance track – showboats Michael’s capacity for generalising songs from his personal experience into a broader theme. His covert message to the world in this instance being, “It seems you get your kicks from hurting me…You and your friends were laughing at me in town… You won’t be laughing, when I’m not around”.
And truly, we are not.
As for the cover of the Dangerous album – surely it is the most underrated of all time? It’s an enigmatic masterpiece that reveals a new detail with each perusal. Much like the music contained on the album itself.
Michael got grief for the repetitiveness of his themes (in itself supporting evidence that Michael did indeed write his own songs), but like any other artist, he was inspired by what he knew. The utterly unique track, Liberian Girl, ostensibly an imaginative piece, was originally entitled Egyptian Girl. It was written around the time Michael forged a friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, and was even dedicated to her. My theory is that Michael was inspired by and fell in love with her role in the movie Cleopatra; similarly, Remember The Time is dedicated to another of Michael’s diva loves, Diana Ross, and, interestingly, the video is, of course, set in Egypt, during a time in the history of humanity when it was black people who were the rulers and emperors. Of course, musing on Michael’s sexuality could fill a thesis in itself. After all, going by this observation of song dedications, for example, look no further than Blood On The Dancefloor for the waters to be muddied. That track was dedicated to yet another diva: Elton John.
Michael seemed to prefer performing his self-penned tracks. Working Day and Night was a mainstay for the majority of his adult touring career, as were Heartbreak Hotel, Billie Jean and Beat It. On the HIStory Tour, Michael even dropped Man In The Mirror for the self-penned song HIStory; whilst Human Nature – previously having been a setlist certainty – was replaced with Stranger In Moscow.
The subject of Michael’s lyrics is indefatigable, what with their capacity for being so open to interpretation. The propensity for analysis in the lyrics of songs as ostensibly benign as Billie Jean (“Be careful what you do, because a lie become the truth”) and Beat It (about lynch-mobs and the utilisation of peaceful means to suppress violence), again, warrant theses themselves.
And Michael’s genius songwriting wasn’t limited to any particular heyday, either: the latter-day track We’ve Had Enough, for example, containing the lyric, “What did these soldiers come here for? If they’re for peace, why is there war?”
The wince-inducing lyrical drivel the Cascios managed to muster: “Mama say mama got you in a zig zag”, to name but one offence, is downright embarrassing, to say the very least. Though not even Quincy Jones always got it right: he wanted neither Billie Jean nor Smooth Criminal on their respective albums. Which just goes to show, the success of the Quincy Jones collaborations was by no means solely down to the Executive Producer, as claimed by some – including Estate media mouthpiece, Roger Friedman (who – surprise, surprise – is also a Cascio tracks supporter).
In Strength Of One Man, Michael wrote:
“We have picked people that say they’re on our side,
And after they did everything they want (y’all),
They start to tell us lie, just lie after lie.”
Which demonstrates for how long Michael and his family have had problems with being able to trust people. People like the Cascios who sold Michael out as soon as he had passed. The issue of the Cascio tracks is not going away. The A Truth Untold Kickstarter campaign is in full-swing, with over one-hundred backers and over a quarter of the funding total pledged already. Do your bit to support this important project, even if it is merely sharing the details of it.
We are the curators of Michael’s legacy, and deceitful songs in his discography is a fundamentally unacceptable situation.
As Michael continued, in Strength Of One Man:
“Now we can’t blame our problems
On just that chosen few -
Cause if we wanna solve them,
It’s up to me and it’s up to you.”
