'What More Can I Give' was written as a response to the riots in L.A. in 1992

Fuzball

Proud Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
5,509
Points
113
Guys, did you knew this?



JULIEN'S AUCTIONS From the Collection of Dr. Steven M. Hoefflin

An early original draft of the chorus lyrics to Michael Jackson's song What More Can I Give written in 1992 as a response to the brutal beating of Rodney King and the subsequent riots in Los Angeles.


300599_0.jpg
 
Yup! The earliest version of it was called "Heal L.A."

Not sure when it morphed into "What More Can I Give," but it was a response to the Rodney King riots in 1992. Michael then resurrected it in 1999 after speaking with Nelson Mandela, and then ultimately brought it to life after the September 11th attacks.
 
It's registered and deposited on tape with the US Copyright Office in 1998 as 'What More Can I Give'.
 
The song became ‘What More Can I Give’ in 1999, when Michael Jackson had a conversation with Nelson Mandela:

“…In an earlier conversation I had this year [1999] with President Mandela we discussed the concept of giving, and the words ‘what more can I give’ kept coming into my mind…” (Michael Jackson)

Also, he had already recorded a demo of that song in 1992 (when the song was still titled as ‘Heal L.A.’) because his brother Jermaine Jackson stated in his book that Michael Jackson in 2001 (after the September 11 attacks) dug out that old song from his unreleased archive in order to re-work it.
 
mj_frenzy;4295724 said:
The song became ‘What More Can I Give’ in 1999, when Michael Jackson had a conversation with Nelson Mandela:

It was titled WMCIG in 1998 or even earlier.

lQMJ3d7.jpg
 
This is new to me. Thanks for all the info.
 
Jackson Rules;4295805 said:
I read on some sites that it was scheduled as a duet with Pavarotti but it didn't happen because he didn't attend the event

For the Munich concert, Michael Jackson and Luciano Pavarotti did not plan to duet the ‘What More Can I Give’ song, but they planned to duet the ‘La Mia Canzone Al Vento’ song.

But eventually Luciano Pavarotti did not attend the Munich concert because he was angry with Michael Jackson who few weeks earlier did not attend (although he promised to) his ‘Pavarotti And Friends’ Benefit Concert that took place at Modena, on June 1st, 1999.
 
mj_frenzy;4295943 said:
For the Munich concert, Michael Jackson and Luciano Pavarotti did not plan to duet the ‘What More Can I Give’ song, but they planned to duet the ‘La Mia Canzone Al Vento’ song.

But eventually Luciano Pavarotti did not attend the Munich concert because he was angry with Michael Jackson who few weeks earlier did not attend (although he promised to) his ‘Pavarotti And Friends’ Benefit Concert that took place at Modena, on June 1st, 1999
.

Why didn't MJ attend? - do we know?
 
Hess;4295955 said:
Why didn't MJ attend? - do we know?

The official reason was that Michael Jackson had to visit a New York hospital in order to be next to his two-year-old sick son Prince who at the time suffered a viral infection (fever and dehydration were two of Prince’s symptoms).

They said it was a seizure, but eventually the seriousness of his son’s health condition proved to be a huge exaggeration, so this must not have been the actual reason for Michael Jackson's cancellation of his performance at Modena.

Apparently, Michael Jackson simply changed his mind, which explains why Luciano Pavarotti became so angry with him to the point where Luciano Pavarotti decided later to back out of his commitment to perform with him in Munich (on June 27th, 1999).
 
Back
Top