Like free lunches, Sach O holds it down like steel.
The first record I ever played out at the ripe old age of 3 was an Alvin and the Chipmunks cover of “Beat it”. I eventually moved on to the OG versions of “Billie Jean”, “PYT” and “Smooth Criminal” but that was pretty much the beginning and the end of my Michael Jackson phase. Don’t be surprised, I was born a year and some change after Thriller dropped so by the time I hit my teens, MJ was already a punch line and the musical climate was decidedly against his brand of universal megastardom. Throw in my emerging anti-pop teenage cynicism and its safe to say that MJ wasn’t exactly rocking my world…except maybe on 2001’s “Rock My World” which I actually couldn’t deny.
So call it ignorance, call it bias, call it what you want but I didn’t expect much when I bought the Jackson 5’s “Maybe Tomorrow” for a college project about possibilities of sampling. I’d decided to contrast Ghostface Killah’s “All that I got is You” with its sample source and intended to highlight the difference between Ghost’s emotional rollercoaster ride with Michael’s bubblegum funk. The only problem is “Maybe Tomorrow” was just as emotional and nuanced as Ghost’s flip. I didn’t see that one coming.
With all the talk about Jackson being a man-child, it’s easy to forget how well he handled the complex, soulful material given to him at Motown during his early days. Unrequited love is the kind of heavy soul-fucking emotional conundrum that can fuck with anyone from Nobel prize winning geniuses to the average Joes and yet this prepubescent kid SOMEHOW managed to squeeze every single tearful moment out of the experience and belt it back out into song. The fuck?? Originally intended for Sammy Davis Jr., “All that I got is You” opens with a haunting orchestral track merging piano, strings, sitars, drums and flutes while still remaining reserved.
When Michael comes in, he sounds on the edge of tears, channeling emotions that no 13 year old could possibly have been expected to understand. The mournful vocals slowly build towards a crescendo but just as the chorus is about to hit, the band pulls back, keeping the energy muted for another verse before again gaining momentum. This push-pull continues for the rest of the song, the swirling strings and background vocals becoming more prominent and Michael’s lead turning increasingly frantic until with 45 seconds left he lets it all out screaming “BABY I NEEED YOOOUU” with enough power and intensity to make James Brown blush, a raw funky yelp made only more powerful by the full fledged orchestra now surrounding him. The band jams its way out and we’re left with a song capturing the helplessness, sadness, beauty, joy, hapines, energy and unpredictability of love in a 4 minute hit single sung by a pre-teen. It bears repeating: The fuck??
I don’t remember how I fit that into my paper (truth be told, only reason I bothered with the damn thing was a crush on my T.A) but I left with a new respect for Michael Jackson. No matter what you say about his personal life or even his particular style of music, he was an incredibly talented singer whose vocals could express everything from pure juvenile fun to sexy teenaged attitude to incredible emotional balladry without ever turning overblown. And while it’s almost assuredly the decidedly adult Thriller that got jammed the most on the night of his passing, I played selections from the smiling kid that saved Motown: a kid with a voice so soulful he’s undoubtedly jamming with Isaac, James and Norman Whitfield up in Heaven right now.
Peace Michael, may you finally get it.
Download:
MP3: Jackson 5-“Maybe Tomorrow”
