1
I gave her money
I gave her time
I gave her everything
Inside one heart could find
I gave her passion
My very soul
I gave her promises
And secrets so untold
And she promised me forever
And a day we'd live as one
We made our vows
We'd live a life anew
And she promised me in secret
That she'd love me for all the time
It's a promise so untrue
Tell me what will I do ?
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 someone else ?
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
Is it my brother ?
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take this stuff no more
I am the damned
I am the dead
I am the agony inside
The dying head
This is injustice
Woe unto thee
I pray this punishment
Would have mercy on me
And she promised me forever
That we'd live our life as one
We made our vows
We'd live a love so true
It seems that she has left me
For such reasons unexplained
I need to find the truth
But see what will I do ?
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 bothered everyday
And she didn't leave a letter
She just up and ran away
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
Is it my brother ?
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take it 'cause I'm lonely
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
To me I'm bothered
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take it 'cause I'm lonely
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 someone else ?
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 bothered everyday
And she didn't leave a letter
She just up and ran away
I gave her time
I gave her everything
Inside one heart could find
I gave her passion
My very soul
I gave her promises
And secrets so untold
And she promised me forever
And a day we'd live as one
We made our vows
We'd live a life anew
And she promised me in secret
That she'd love me for all the time
It's a promise so untrue
Tell me what will I do ?
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 someone else ?
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
Is it my brother ?
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take this stuff no more
I am the damned
I am the dead
I am the agony inside
The dying head
This is injustice
Woe unto thee
I pray this punishment
Would have mercy on me
And she promised me forever
That we'd live our life as one
We made our vows
We'd live a love so true
It seems that she has left me
For such reasons unexplained
I need to find the truth
But see what will I do ?
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 bothered everyday
And she didn't leave a letter
She just up and ran away
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
Is it my brother ?
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take it 'cause I'm lonely
(Who is it ?)
It is a friend of mine
(Who is it ?)
To me I'm bothered
(Who is it ?)
Somebody hurt my soul
(Who is it ?)
I can't take it 'cause I'm lonely
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 someone else ?
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 bothered everyday
And she didn't leave a letter
She just up and ran away
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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.
Awesome interpretation
@Shazaza Thank you for hinting the secret phone conversation.. Didn't know it existed.<br /> I just love your interpretation so much and I think you hit the nail on it's head. Remember the part in "Dirty Diana" where he kinda quotes the girl as she says "I'll be your everything / If you make me a star"... It just all adds up and makes sense to me. Using MJ and other "boys in the band" (other famous artists) and their fame to gain more success and popularity herself.<br />
@Shazaza He explained that Dirty Diana was about groupies...nobody in particular ...