My friend Kweli reminded me that Michael Jackson sang background vocals on Stevie Wonder’s “All I Do” the other day. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, I just hadn’t thought it about in years. Communicating via Internet, leaving a comment on one of the many social networks we choose to use these days, I said, “I’m listening to it right now.” In reality I was recounting the vocals of the song in my head, “All I doo, is think about you…”
This morning, I actually put Stevie’s “Hotter Than July” on. I’m listening to it now for the third time, as the first time, by the time I got to the chorus of “All I Do,” I was weeping for my brother Michael. Just when I thought I was finished crying, “Rocket Love” begins to play. The lyrics, “You took me riding in your rocket and gave me a star, but at a half a mile from heaven you dropped me back down to this cold cold world” play and now I’m balling worse than before. I lit three candles for Michael today. One for him, one for the light he gave to the world and one for his 3 children; as each candle is for each of them.
I’m full yet again – as certainly not all I’ve been doing has been thinking of him, but he’s been on my mind a great deal “Lately,” not to mention all the media coverage he’s been getting. Five years my senior, Michael’s been there ever since I was seven years old. IT’S LIKE HE’S ALWAYS BEEN THERE. The Jackson 5 song “ABC,” was a number-one hit in 1970. The Jackson 5 became the only group in history whose first four records went to Number-One. “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There,” garnered them 25,000 dollars for every performance at the gate of their career. This was an unprecedented feat for a band at that time. The Jackson family is THE ROYAL FAMILY of music in America. The “King of Pop” is “Gone Too Soon,” I love and miss him so.
HE DID HIS WORK, FULFILLED HIS “DESTINY,” did his best to “Heal the World.” Earlier I thought, I probably won’t see another like him in my lifetime. But then there was a point I thought, I’d never see a Black man as President of these United States either. So hopefully there will be another that brings the brilliance of Michael Jackson, however, he possessed a magic that was all his own. One who can sing, dance and produce, although he wasn’t a hands on musician. He’d relay vocally how he’d want the music to sound, Che’mon…
[wpaudio url=”http://www.museumofuncutfunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/05-Got-To-Be-There.mp3″]
I hear-by condemn all the “doctors” who chose money over ethics and had a hand in his deteriorating health. At the same time I commend those doctors and nurses that did the moral thing, by not enabling or indulging him just because he could afford it. There are families in Michael’s home state of Indiana who can’t afford health care today. Yet hundreds of people in medicine unscrupulously provide anybody, with any kind of drugs they want for the right price. This behavior obviously attributed to Michael’s early and untimely demise. I don’t need to know the final results of the autopsy to determine that, it’s a matter of mere deduction.
AN INTERNATIONAL TREASURE, LET ALONE A NATIONAL TREASURE; A POP-CULTURAL ICON, LET ALONE A MUSICAL ICON!!!
I spoke to friend of mine in Japan the other day, he told me how all throughout Tokyo everyone he encountered and those he observed were sad. When I first heard that he had passed, the news was softened for me, as I was told by my wife about an hour earlier he had suffered from “cardiac arrest.” It hadn’t been said that he was dead. My wife works in radio, so the station was on alert for more details. Before my she got word at the station, a friend called me and asked me if I heard that he had died. “No, he’s suffered from cardiac arrest,” I said, only to find out about an hour later that he was gone.
Fortunately his music will LIVE FOREVER. “The Way You Make Me Feel,” popped into my head the other day. Every so often I realize that’s one of my favorite songs by him. Like “All I Do,” “The Way You Make…” are songs of love, two that express such a blissful state of love, the kind every loving creature hopes it finds in another, one that will last forever. The way I fortunately feel about the love of my life, a love I have the fortune of sharing with another. How unfortunate that a man who has to be LOVED BY AT LEAST A BILLION, MAYBE EVEN A TRILLION PEOPLE, could not find such a love in his lifetime. I had the fortune to see him perform. I WENT TO A MICHAEL JACKSON CONCERT!!!!! – The Bad Tour!!! Che-mon…
While he sang “You Are Not Alone,” to heal others, he didn’t fully realize somehow that the same applied to him, as we were ALL here with him. But then that’s somewhat of a false connection, as ALL of us were not his immediate family. WHILE WE ALL LOVED HIM, I mourn for the family and relay to them my condolences. I pray for them and for all of those who are missing our beloved brother, our son, our mentor – whatever he was to you. In whatever capacity he inspired you, I feel for you and walk with you in your sentiments, as we CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF MICHAEL. THIS IS NOT A SAD DAY, BUT A HAPPY AND GLORIOUS ONE – AS WE REJOICE IN THE GLORY OF A BLACK MAN BEING ABLE TO FULFILL HIS DREAMS!!!
Some may ask but at what cost? There’s so many more things I can say… I’m glad he’s at peace. MICHAEL JACKSON LIVED, that’s the beginning and the end.I took a photo of this image below that I saw while in the Manhattan on 7th avenue yesterday. It’s such a blatant random expression of the IMPACT Michael had on the world. It was painted on a false wooden front for a building. A structure that’s created while a portion of a building is under construction.
Peace & Love
c-dub
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