Michael Jackson had the unique ability to make every note sound like a gentle battle cry. His powerful lyrics, beats and melodies still resonate with his fans for the many decades he performed for them. But there was something specifically about the song “Human Nature” that seems to still hold such a special place in music history.
In a clip making the rounds on social media, we see a montage of Jackson singing the song, just mere weeks before his untimely death at age 50. Seemingly, the resurfaced clip is part of the This Is It documentary, that witnessed Jackson relentlessly rehearsing the song and performing it on different stages.
Flawless voice
Even in his exhaustion, his voice is flawless, hitting those falsetto notes as if he were merely taking a breath. The video shows his pants changing from bright red to glittered gold, but the voice, though tired, hits every beat every time.
Of course, there are many comments from fans flooding in. One TikToker writes, in part, “When he stepped on stage, something bigger than him took over.” Another points out, “He was dancing most of his life. Of course he could rock a stage at 50.”
The song itself, of course, is from his smash album Thriller, which garnered eight Grammys for Jackson. It was released in 1983 and was just one of many hits that changed the musical landscape forever. (Other hits from the record include “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, and of course the title track “Thriller.”)
Creating the magic
Produced beautifully by Quincy Jones, Steve Porcaro wrote the melody and many lyrics for the track. (He was also incidentally the co-founder of the band Toto.) John Bettis was later brought in to help add to the magic of the song we know today.
In an interview with Bettis, Jackson enthusiast Brice Najar asks how it all came about. Bettis shared that Jones had “messengered” him a cassette tape of the music, looking to punch up the lyrics.
Bettis relays, “The melody was kind of jumping out of the speakers at me. So I sat down in my den where I normally didn’t write, and I started jotting lyrics. When I wrote the line ‘If this town is just an apple, let me take a bite,’ I closed up the pad I was writing in, got myself a glass of red wine and went up to my office. It’s something you learn about yourself, you know: when you write a line that is better than you really are as a writer, which that was, right?”
‘Three hours later…’
He adds, “That was easily one of the best lines I had written up to that point. So I went upstairs and I honestly wasn’t paying attention to the clock, but some three hours later, maybe a little more, I was finished. I can’t tell you how I let them know, but I think I might have left a message for my publisher because I don’t think I had Quincy’s number…. They got back to me somehow the next day and said I had to meet Steve [Porcaro, who had also written some lyrics] whom I hadn’t met, the following day at his house in the valley. And, oh yeah, Quincy let me know that they wanted to record it the next day!”
Still climbing charts
Though the tune spent many weeks on the Top 100 Billboard charts, it just recently broke the top ten of the U.K. Singles chart, over 40 years after it was released. And the fact that this collaborative brilliance still continues to resurface, year and year on social media, is a testament to how much the song was embedded in the hearts of many.
