Thread by @songadaymann

1/ I got curious about Michael Jackson’s songwriting process, and I fell down a rabbit hole on the song Billie Jean.

What follows is a thread about the (really quite) interesting things I found, with links, audio and video.

1a/ (is this the right time for something like this? I hope so.)

1b/ (note: This rabbit hole got me thinking about starting a podcast around the “hidden histories” behind really popular songs, but I haven’t quite found a way to frame it. If this idea appeals to you, let’s chat.)

[YES I JUST LABELED THIS TWEET "ONE B"]

2/ Ok. Here’s how Michael Jackson wrote songs: He’d sing the entire song, layer by layer (bass, guitar, drums, vocals, etc), into a mini cassette recorder.

Then he’d bring that cassette to the band, and they’d learn it and lay it down.

3/ Read this account from Rob Hoffman, one of Michael’s sound engineers over the years, on how MJ would bring a new song into the studio.

truemichaeljackson.com/true-stories/i…

4/ In his autobiography “Moonwalk” MJ describes driving on the Ventura freeway in his Rolls-Royce(!) while writing Billie Jean in his head. He’s so absorbed in the song, he doesn’t notice that the car is on fire(?!).

5/ And there’s actually really amazing audio of MJ describing this experience of writing Billie Jean...

6/ It comes from MJ being deposed for having supposedly stolen the song Dangerous from singer Crystal Cartier.

(Side bar: MJ won this suit, and personally, I think justice was served.

Crystal Cartier’s song:

MJ’s:

7/ OK, so in that deposition, MJ’s attorney is trying to establish that A) MJ has written hundreds of songs and B) He has a really specific method for doing so. His attorney asks him to demonstrate this process with a song other than Dangerous

8/ This results in MJ singing Billie Jean acapella, piece by piece, right there for the lawyers in the room. Listen, it’s nuts:

8a/  (I highly recommend listening to a bunch of the rest of the deposition, it’s fascinating. You can find that here: )

9/ So here’s what I imagine: Michael has this song going around in his head. He rushes home and starts getting musicians to lay it down. At some point, the result is this demo. I love it so, so much. This is actually the thing that got me curious in the first place:

10/ One interesting thing to note: In his deposition, MJ describes writing the song as “everything comes at that moment, like a gift that’s put right into your head”, but in the demo, while there’s a WHOLE LOT of it intact, he’s clearly missing a bunch of verse lyrics.

11/ Next: There’s an interview that Quincy Jones gave in '14.

The interview is fascinating. But there’s 1 bit about Billie Jean that struck me.

There’s a rumor that he hated the song at first, which he lays to rest, BUT THEN he says this: “Also, I KNOW WHERE IT CAME FROM”.

12/ What does that mean? Well, this year in Vulture, he explained it.

Quincy accused MJ of stealing the bass line for Billie Jean from the song State of Independence, originally by Jon and Vangelis, later covered by Donna Summer (produced by Quincy).

vulture.com/2018/02/quincy…

13/ (Side note: I’m a little embarrassed but I’d never heard this song before. I really like it a lot, both versions.

Original:
Donna Summers: )

14/ In recording Donna Summer's version, Quincy put together an all-star choir (pre We Are The World!): Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Brenda Russell, Christopher Cross, Dyan Cannon, Peggy Lipton, Dara Bernard, James Ingram, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Wonder

and of course, MJ!

15/ It’s Quincy’s contention that MJ heard this bass line in the recording session and lifted it for use in Billie Jean.

There are two problems with this idea, in my opinion. The first is that, aside from being arpeggiated, the groove is just not similar at all.

16/ If you slow down the bass from State of Independence, you can definitely hear it, but… YOU’VE COMPLETELY CHANGE THE SONG AT THAT POINT.

I mean, right? Jeez.

Here they are compared side by side with the slow down:


Meh.

17/ The SECOND problem with Qunicy’s theory, though, is that Michael Jackson apparently ADMITTED to stealing the groove!

And it wasn’t from State of Independence.

It was from our good, good friends…HALL AND MOTHER FUCKING OATES.

#HallAndOates

18/ You don’t have to look far to find @realDarylHall telling this rad story. Here he is in a clip from HuffPost Live in 2015:

19/ This seems much more credible to me. It came directly from Michael! And, JUST LISTEN TO THE SONGS! The connection becomes instantly clear once you know that these two songs are related:

I Can’t Go For That:
Billie Jean:

20/ To be clear, I don’t think this is actually stealing someone else’s song, rather simply being INSPIRED. MJ loved the groove, put it through his Michael filter, and it became Billie Jean. I love that, and I loved learning this bit of pop culture history.

/The end!

21/ Addendum: Michael was MY GUY when I was growing up. Between the ages of 5-8, I’d dance for hours to his music EVERY DAY after school. In a kindergarten talent show, I lip synced to Bad and grabbed my crotch at the end.

22/ (I don't remember the crotch grab, I only know about it because the school called my parents and they love telling the story)