'Electric Eyes' Human Nature / Xscape

Is Michael talking about camaras?

Yeah I always thought in HN he was talking about people staring at him - fans etc..... But now after hearing Xscape, think he means camaras as that makes more sense and is a great lyric if it is.

Perfect timing! I actually thought about this yesterday. It is indeed interesting to decipher the meaning of "Electric Eyes".

"Escape Is what i need from these electric eyes" could mean something entirely different than cameras though.

I have also noticed the 'electric eyes' phrase in both songs. The camera symbolism is fantastic and appropriate.

I guess in HN "electric eyes" refer to street lamps, but I don't insist on it, just always had this image of the night streets considering the lyrics of the song. While in Escape it goes for cameras for sure.

BlackMos said:

I guess in HN "electric eyes" refer to street lamps, but I don't insist on it, just always had this image of the night streets considering the lyrics of the song. While in Escape it goes for cameras for sure.

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That's what I always visualized too. Specifically, the city lights of New York, given the references to New York in the first verse.

^^me too. The stop lights in New York. But cameras are especially symbolic as well now, given the zillion red light cameras all over. It really gives that lyric extra meaning.

I think in both songs it means staring eyes

BlackMos said:

I guess in HN "electric eyes" refer to street lamps, but I don't insist on it, just always had this image of the night streets considering the lyrics of the song. While in Escape it goes for cameras for sure.

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SmoothCriminal1995 said:

I think in both songs it means staring eyes

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I agree with both of these views, actually a combination of the two. I do believe that in Human Nature it meant NYC lights and staring eyes, while in that other song it might have been about cameras.

The same words/lines can have added and unexpected value over time. I'm sure that back in 1981 or whenever Human Nature was written it wasn't envisioned just the kind of impact electric eyes would have. Big Brother is everywhere these days, right? One doesn't even need to be a celebrity in order to be under the watchful eye of the cameras.

Btw of HN......I actually know of this funny little edit between parts of the performance in This is it and some Disney characters. You wouldn't believe how well they go together. Sampling more or less random lines and combining them with TII moments always gets you far, or so I'm told :cheeky:

But.. Michael didn't write Human Nature :thinking: It also wasn't written specifically for him/with him in mind, so I'm pretty sure Human Nature's 'electric eyes' aren't camera's.. They seem to be in Xscape tho, seems like Michael 'borrowed' the expression but gave it a different meaning

Lil said:

But.. Michael didn't write Human Nature :thinking: It also wasn't written specifically for him/with him in mind

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:doh: Greatttt, goes to show how much I know about his songs lol. Might as well go and edit my post then, the inaccurate part, anyhow.

What's next, are you gonna tell me he didn't write Thriller either?

seems like Michael 'borrowed' the expression but gave it a different meaning

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Here, here - I bet Michael borrowed the words of many along time and gave them different meaning.

AntWort said:

:doh: Greatttt, goes to show how much I know about his songs lol.

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Ohh, don't worry about it this song has been one of my all time faves ever since I first listened to it, and I'm still kinda gutted he didn't write it himself :'D

AntWort said:

What's next, are you gonna tell me he didn't write Thriller either?

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He didn't! :lmao: Rod Temperton wrote Thriller