| Michael Jackson – Liberian Girl Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The song is actually about Diana Ross, even though he dedicated it to Liz Taylor. Michael said in a 1983 interview that he was currently writing a song called Liberian Girl. (He hasn't even met Liz Taylor then) According to an MJ bodyguard, he was assigned to guard Michael and Diana when they went on an intimate vacation together to... LIBERIA, Costa Rica, in 1983. That's right. There's actually another Liberia -- we were all fooled into believing that he was singing solely about Africa Liberia. Think about it -- Michael was cannodling with Diana (who is african american) in Liberia, and then he subsequently writes a song about loving a ‘Liberian‘ girl right after the vacation? Sounds suspicious to me. I assume Michael combined both Africa Liberia and Costa Rica Liberia in the song to throw people off-track, because now it makes perfect sense why the beginning of the song had a girl speaking in an African-language but then the rest of the song had a south american/latin, tropical flavour to it. Tl;dr -- Liberian Girl is about Diana Ross, like many, many other songs written by MJ. I believe she was his muse. |
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| Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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In a TV interview, the producer of this song Quincy Jones was asked by Mary J Blige who was MJ talking about in Dirty Diana, and Quincy said: "I thought it was about Diana Ross, like everyone else." Quincy himself was aware that everyone thought it was about her and he didn't object to this assumption, so I'm guessing that it's true. |
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| Michael Jackson – Remember the Time Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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According to Michael's brother Jermaine in his book, this song was about Michael's relationship with Diana Ross. "...As for how intimate they truly became, this is where his music - nearly always semi auto biographical - should speak for itself. Go listen to the wistful lyrics of "Remember the Time" released in 1992. That song was, as Michael told me, written with Diana Ross in mind; the one great love that, as far he was concerned, escaped him." Source: You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through A Brother's Eyes (Jermaine Jackson, 2011) The video had Michael playing as a prince (himself) having an affair with the Queen of Egypt (Diana) behind the King's back (either Berry Gordy or Arne Naess, Diana's husband). He's also reminiscing the glory days of Ancient Egypt in the video (to signify the the glory days of him and Diana being the 'King and Queen' of showbiz coined by Ebony magazine back in 1982) and is begging the Queen to 'remember the time' when they were together. So it's safe to say the song was a nostalgic ode to his past relationship with her, and he wrote 'dedicated with love to Diana Ross' on the 1992 single cover to hammer things even further that the song was meant for her and only her. |
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| Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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To expand on the song being inspired by real serial killer Richard Ramirez, you have to remember that 'Smooth Criminal' evolved from 'Chicago 1945' and then 'Al Capone'. Listen to 'Al Capone', the lyrics in that song shed more light about the song being inspired by Richard Ramirez, it's less cryptic and have a more warning message to the listeners than Smooth Criminal. "Al Capone" Why did you let him get away? After the staring, what did you say? Shot me down as cold as ice Scream in my face then pushed you back She should have spied down his skin Now it's my job to get revenge Why did you let him get away? Why did you let him get her? Too bad, forget it 'Cause Al Capone said it So sad, regret it 'Cause a madman's out tonight You should have told her Nobody ever showed her about us No one's sleeping Nobody should be grievin' this way When Michael wrote Smooth Criminal he threw out the warning/cautionary tone and delved into the psyche of the killer himself, hence why it seemed like some of the lyrics took on a more mysterious slant as to who the killer really is. But in the end Michael is still singing from a 2nd person point of view and he's trying to make the listeners feel like they are experiencing the mystery themselves through the song. |
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| Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The truth behind the song is actually less meaningful than it seems. The song is based on a real life serial killer called Richard Ramirez, according to Michael's brother Jermaine in his 2011 MJ biography. The excerpt: "... The video had an Al Capone-style feel, but 'Smooth Criminal' was actually inspired by a serial killer who spread fear throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco between 1984 and 1985. Richard Ramirez, a self-confessed devil worshipper, was the 'Night Stalker' who took 14 lives. In most cases, he forced his way into people's homes before brutally murdering them with a knife (hence the appearance of a flashing blade in the video). "There were two reasons not to reveal this inspiration at the time: first, so that the media didn't accuse him of glorifying such a heinous crime; and second, he didn't want the elders [Michael was a very devout Jehovah Witness at the time and was monitored by 'religious elders' who kept an eye on his behavior onset] to know that a worshipper of the occult partly 'inspired' this song." - Source: You Are Not Alone: Michael Through A Brother's Eyes (Jermaine Jackson, 2011). Michael once said that not all of his songs have a deep meaning behind it, sometimes it is just fantasy. Smooth Criminal is one of them. |
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| Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Oh, it's definitely about Diana Ross alright. She was known to sleep around with the Motown boys to advance her career, like Berry Gordy and MJ. Hence the line 'I'll be your everything, if you make me a star". Apparently MJ's brother Marlon was also interested in her. She tried to seduce Marvin Gaye and Lionel Ritchie, but failed. MJ was calling her out for ... uh, 'using' him the past few years, but OF COURSE he wasn't gonna tell that to the public. Hence he came out with some half-assed excuse about it being a groupie. There was one source which said that Quincy Jones told MJ to tone down the lyrics because he knew that MJ was being too obvious about it being about Diana Ross. It also wasn't coincidence that Diana and MJ had a strained relationship after the song came out. They eventually made up years later, but yeah. |
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| Michael Jackson – Who Is It Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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It's pretty obvious that he's singing about the same girl from 'Dirty Diana', and in the music video it was hinted that the girl's name is Diana. But 'Diana' is not mere metaphor or fiction, he's actually making jabs at Diana Ross, his 'mother-lover-sister' that he claimed her to be in his autobiography. See, in the song, he's singing about a girl who left him to be with someone else, and he's upset that he doesn't even know who is the guy she left him for. Think back to 1979 - 1985, where Diana just broke off from Silberstein, and she got awfully close with Michael during that period. They went to Oscar dates together, hung out in clubs together, did intimate photoshoots together, and even spent nights together during the filming of the 'Wiz'. Michael wrote a few songs for her albums during this period, too. In an interview, Michael boldly insinuated that the person he wants to marry is Diana Ross, but nobody took him seriously because they just thought that it was just idolization from Michael's part, sort of a cute crush or something. Then suddenly, in 1986 Diana announced that she was getting married to Arnes Naess. Michael was upset, he admitted in his Moonwalk autobiography that he was jealous of her new husband because he has never even met the guy before, and he refused to attend her wedding nor wanted her to collaborate on a song called 'I Can't Stop Loving You' and even turned down Diana's invitation to appear on her show. A year later, 'Bad' is released and it featured a song called 'Dirty Diana', most probably 'dedicated' to Diana Ross as a way to get back at her. In the Glenda tapes, where MJ had his phone conversation with a friend wiretapped without either of them knowing (you can find the audio tracks on Youtube -- called MJ secret phone conversations), he told his friend that an 'older woman' used him and was fooling around with other men behind his back. He also mentioned that it took him years to get over Diana, and this was right before Dangerous was released so the timing for the song 'Who Is It?" (which is featured in this album) makes sense. Actually, if you match the lyrics of 'Who Is It?' with Michael's rumored affair with Diana, everything fits together. There's no metaphor or groupies or whatever. It's a straightfoward song about 'Diana' (Ross) breaking his heart, that's all. |
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