“In October 2014, Bill Wolfer, the keyboard player on the song, was the first to share his recollection of the making of Say Say Say. He related how Michael Jackson called to ask him to make a finished demo using a cassette on which he and Paul McCartney had recorded their two voices plus a single guitar line. Bill Wolfer described in detail the process of making the demo, explaining how the rhythm had been worked out on a Linn LM-1, before a basic version was laid on a four-track recorder using a Rhodes piano, with bass notes and percussion played on a synthesizer. This initial demo was used in the studio a few days later to lay Nate Watts’s bass line and Ricky Lawson’s drums. Those same lines had originally been given to the drummer Jonathan Moffett and bass player Mike McKinney, who were regulars on the Jacksons’ tours, but their experience of live performance did not suit the more rigorous discipline of the studio. David Williams came on the scene later to overdub some guitar. Little by little the demo was completed, with the addition of further overdubs on the synthesizer, a brass track, and a harmonica solo by Chris Smith. The harmonica player remembered his astonishment at finding himself in the studio with Michael Jackson, who was standing close to him and began to sing into his ear. Nevertheless, he still managed to wrap it up in one take. Gradually, the young star began to admit to Bill Wolfer that he wanted to produce a complete 24-track recording, in the hope that Paul McCartney would use this version. All that would remain was to add their voices and mix everything. And this sophisticated demo did indeed become the final version, just as he’d hoped—with the difference that the bass line by Nate Watts was replaced by a new track played by the ex-Beatle.”
Excerpt From
Michael Jackson: All the Songs
François Allard & Richard Lecocq
Arts & Entertainment · 2018
books.apple.com
This material may be protected by copyright.
