Forever MJ

No one can ever come close to who Michael Joe Jackson was. Out of “the King of Pop’s” innumerable duets and singles, it’s hard to choose just few.  Here’s my list of MJ numbers that I like to listen over and over.  

“Liberian Girl”

 
The song starts with the Swahillian lines "Naku Penda pia, Naku Taka pia, Mpenziwe!" (I love you too, I want you too, my love!) sung by Letta m'bulu, a South African singer.  It was the 9^th single from his album “Bad”.

With Two Lovers In A Scene
And She Says . . .
"Do You Love Me"
And He Says So Endlessly . . .
"I Love You, Liberian Girl"

 The video for this song had 12 celebrities in it including John Travolta, Spielberg and many, with MJ secretly filming them (he wasn’t but the video was made that way)

A very beautifully rendered song from the legend, it wasn’t one of his greatest hits. It wasn’t performed in any of his tours. But it remains my favourite MJ song.

Liberian Girl is dedicated to MJ’s close friend and actress Elizabeth Taylor. 

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"

Each Time The Wind Blows
I Hear Your Voice So
I Call Your Name . . .
Whispers At Morning
Our Love Is Dawning
Heaven's Glad You Came . . .

 

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is MJ’s duet with Siedah Garrett. It was the lead single from his album Bad.  A lovely tune, I just can’t stop listening to it.  

"Thriller"

 

Cause this is thriller, thriller night
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller, thriller night
You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

“Thriller” is the seventh and final single from his sixth album of the same name.  The video adaptation “Michael Jackson’s Thriller” far outshone the soundtrack (which received only a lukewarm response). The music video features MJ and actress Ola Ray with others dressed as zombies. It was the most popular video of the 80’s.

"Black or White”

  See, It's Not About Races
Just Places
Faces
Where Your Blood
Comes From
Is Where Your Space Is
I've Seen The Bright
Get Duller
I'm Not Going To Spend
My Life Being A Color

One of the most popular and a universal hit number of MJ, "Black or White" is the lead single from the album Dangerous, released in November, 1991. The song comes somewhere between rock, and dance-pop. It was written and composed by MJ with rap lyrics by Bill Bottrell. When it was aired in 27 countries, more than 500 million viewers watched it, the most ever.

"Who Is It"

And It Doesn't Seem To Matter
And It Doesn't Seem Right
'Cause The Will Has Brought
No Fortune
Still I Cry Alone At Night
Don't You Judge Of My Composure
'Cause I'm Lying To Myself
And The Reason Why She Left Me
Did She Find In Someone Else?

"Who Is It" was released on August 31 as the fifth single from the album Dangerous in 1991. Written by MJ, the song's lyrics deal with the desperation of being walked out by your ladylove. The single was released two days after Jackson's 34th birthday.

"You Rock My World"

 

 You rocked my world (You rocked my world), you know
you did
And everything I own I give (Look what you did to
me, baby, yeah)
There is love you'll need to find
The one that you call mine (You rocked my world)

"You Rock My World" is the final song from his album Invincible released in 2001. The song is basically a disco pop song which is quintessentially  Michael Jackson.