work on "Say Say Say," which we would finish up later with George Martin, the great Beatles producer.
"Say Say Say" was co-authored by Paul, a man who could play all the instruments in the studio and score every part, and a kid, me, who couldn't. Yet we worked together as equals and enjoyed ourselves. Paul never had to carry me in
that studio. The collaboration was also a real step forward for me in terms of confidence, because there was no
Quincy Jones watching over me to correct my mistakes. Paul and I shared the same idea of how a pop song should
work and it was a real treat to work with him. I feel that ever since John Lennon's death he has had to live up to
expectations people had no right to hang on him; Paul McCartney has given so much to this industry and to his fans.
Eventually, I would buy the ATV music publishing catalogue, which included many of the great Lennon-McCartney
songs. But most people don't know that it was Paul who introduced me to the idea of getting involved in music
publishing. I was staying with Paul and Linda at their house in the country when Paul told me about his own
involvement in music publishing. He handed me a little book with MPL printed on the cover. He smiled as I opened
it, because he knew I was going to find the contents exciting. It contained a list of all the songs Paul owns and he'd
been buying the rights to songs for a long time. I had never given the idea of buying songs any thought before. When
the ATV music publishing catalogue, which contains many Lennon-McCartney songs, went on sale, I decided to put
in a bid.
I consider myself a musician who is incidentally a businessman, and Paul and I had both learned the hard way about
business and the importance of publishing and royalties and the dignity of songwriting. Songwriting should be
treated as the lifeblood of popular music. The creative process doesn't involve time clocks or quota systems, it
involves inspiration and the willingness to follow through. When I was sued my someone I had never heard of for
"The Girl Is Mine," I was quite willing to stand on my reputation. I stated that many of my ideas come in dreams, which some people thought was a convenient cop-out, but it's true. Our industry is so lawyer-heavy that getting sued
for something you didn't do seems to be as much a part of the initiation process as winning amateur night used to be.
"Not My Lover" was a title we almost used for "Billie Jean" because Q had some objections to calling the song
"Billie Jean," my original title. He felt people might immediately think of Billie Jean King, the tennis player.
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A lot of people have asked me about that song, and the answer is very simple. It's just a case of a girl who says that
I'm the father of her child and I'm pleading my innocence because "the kid is not my son."
There was never a real "Billie Jean." (Except for the ones who came after the song.) The girl in the song is a
composite of people we've been plagued by over the years. This kind of thing has happened to some of my brothers
and I used to be really amazed by it. I couldn't understand how these girls could say they were carrying someone's
child when it wasn't true. I can't imagine lying about something like that. Even today there are girls who come to the
gate at our house and say the strangest things, like, "Oh, I'm Michael's wife," or "I'm just dropping off the keys to our apartment." I remember one girl who used to drive us completely crazy. I really think that she believed in her mind
that she belonged with me. There was another girl who claimed I had gone to bed with her, and she made threats.
There've been a couple of serious scuffles at the gate on Hayvenhurst, and they can get dangerous. People yell into
the intercom that Jesus sent them to speak with me and Gold told them to come - unusual and unsettling things.
A musician knows hit material. It has to feel right. Everything has to feel in place. It fulfills you and it makes you
feel good. You know it when you hear it. That's how I felt about "Billie Jean." I knew it was going to be big while I was writing it. I was really absorbed in that song. One day during a break in a recording session I was riding down
the Ventura Freeway with Nelson Hayes, who was working with me at the time. "Billie Jean" was going around in
my head and that's all I was thinking about. We were getting off the freeway when a kid on a motorcycle pulls up to
us and says, "Your car's on fire." Suddenly we noticed the smoke and pulled over and the whole bottom of the Rolls-Royce was on fire. That kid probably saved our lives. If the car had exploded, we could have been killed. But I was
so absorbed by this tune floating in my head that I didn't even focus on the awful possibilities until later. Even while
we were getting help and finding an alternate way to get where we were going, I was silently composing additional
material, that's how involved I was with "Billie Jean."
Before I wrote "Beat It," I had been thinking I wanted to write the type of rock song that I would go out and buy, but also something totally different from the rock music I was hearing on Top 40 radio at the time.
"Beat It" was written with school kids in mind. I've always loved creating pieces that will appeal to kids. It's fun to write for them and know what they like because they're a very demanding audience. You can't fool them. They are
still the audience that's most important to me, because I really care about them. If they like it, it's a hit, no matter
what the charts say.
The lyrics of "Beat It" express something I would do if I were in trouble. Its message - that we should abhor violence
- is something I believe deeply. It tells kids to be smart and avoid trouble. I don't mean to say you should turn the
other cheek while someone kicks in your teeth, but, unless your back is against the wall and you have absolutely no
choice, just get away before violence breaks out. If you fight and get killed, you've gained nothing and lost everything. You're the loser, and so are the people who love you. That's what "Beat It" is supposed to get across. To me true bravery is settling differences without a fight and having the wisdom to make that solution possible.
When Q called Eddie Van Halen, he thought it was a crank call. Because of the bad connection, Eddie was convinced
that the voice on the other end was a fake. After being told to get lost, Q simply dialed the number again. Eddie
agreed to play the session for us and gave us an incredible guitar solo on "Beat It."
The newest members of our team were the band Toto, who had the hit records "Rosanna" and "Africa." They had been well known as individual session musicians before they came together as a group. Because of their experience,
they knew both sides of studio work, when to be independent, and when to be cooperative and follow the producer's
lead. Steve Porcaro had worked on Off the Wall during a break as keyboardist for Toto. This time he brought his
band mates with him. Musicologists know that the band's leader David Paich is the son of Marty Paich, who worked
on Ray Charles' great records like "I Can't Stop Loving You."
I love "Pretty Young Thing," which was written by Quincy and James Ingram. "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" had whetted my appetite for the spoken intro, partly because I didn't think my speaking voice was something my singing
needed to hide. I have always had a soft speaking voice. I haven't cultivated it or chemically altered it: that's me -
take it or leave it. Imagine what it must be like to be criticized for something about yourself that is natural and God
given. Imagine the hurt of having untruths spread by the press, of having people wonder if you're telling the truth -