All of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the death of Michael Jackson reminds me of all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the death of Elvis in 1977. When Elvis died, I was 11, and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Now, I am 43, but I still don’t understand what all the fuss is about.
Jackson was an entertainer, nothing more, nothing less. He wasn’t a hero. He didn’t find the cure for cancer. He didn’t rescue people from a collapsing building, or risk his life to help others, or give up all of his worldly possessions to help the poor of Calcutta. He was a narcissistic entertainer whose time had come and gone 25 years ago. Yes, he had a good voice and was a heckuva dancer. Yes, “Thriller” was one of the all-time greatest albums ever made. But that was many many years ago.
What exactly did he do after “Thriller”? Not much, really. Yes, he had a few good songs, but he reached his peak with “Thriller”, and declined after that. He mutilated his face with countless surgeries. He shared his bed with little boys. His companion was a chimp. He dangled an infant off of a balcony. He thought of himself as “Peter Pan”. His death was most likely the result of his own excesses. Yet we mourn him like he was a saint or a hero. I just don’t get it….
Memo to the world — He was just a singer! Get over it!
My Michael Jackson Memory
Friday, June 26th, 2009The album “Thriller” came out when I was in high school. One of the hits from “Thriller”, “Billie Jean” caused a great deal of controversy. Sure, the topic was controversial, but even more controversial was what the hell he was saying? As this dorky white kids heard it,
“Billie Jean’s at my door. She’s just a girl. She says I am the one. But the ch-something is not my son.”
What wasn’t his son? Child? Cheese? Chair? We would replay that part of the song over and over, and debate ad nauseam.
“It must be child, right? That would make sense.”
”But it sounds more like cheese.”
“How can cheese be a son?”
“Don’t ask me! I didn’t write the song! How can custard drip from a dead dog’s eye?”
“Good point!”
“No, he’s saying ‘CHAIR’. It’s some kind of slang lingo for child.”
A few us guys were watching ”Late Night with David Letterman” (when he followed Johnny Carson) one night, and the topic just happened to be the accursed lyric. Letterman had received a letter asking for clarification as to the lyric. He played the song, and at the unknown word, a man’s voice (I believe it was his producer) clearly states, “CHAIR”. There you have it! Mystery solved.
Back in May, #3′s dance recital included an interpretation of the song, “Thriller”. For brevity’s sake, the dance studio did not do the entire song, which I pointed out to #1. The next day, I dusted off my vinyl and played “Thriller”. While I had the record out, I mentioned the debate over the lyric to Billie Jean, and how you can’t really understand what he is saying, and about the David Letterman answer. She said she wanted to weigh in, so I played it for her. When it was done, she stated that the lyric does indeed sound like “the CHAIR’s not my son.”
(Here are the actual lyrics to that part of the song–
Billie Jean’s not my lover, she’s just a girl who claims that I am the one, but the kid is not my son…)
My challenge to you, the reader is this — listen to the Chorus of Billie Jean, and tell me who is right about what he is saying — David Letterman (and me), or Michael Jackson as officially published on the record. Remember, artists have been know to publish lyrics different from what they are actually singing. (“Athena”, by The Who, is a song that I swear he is singing “she’s a girl, she’s a whore”, but the officially published lyrics say “she’s a girl, she’s a bomb”…)
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