Underrated lyrics

analogue

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What lyrics from Michael do you think are underrated? They can be written by him or someone else.

I think the lyrics ''Always wanted something for nothing. Especially what they don't deserve. Reaching in my pocket, I just gotta stop it. Even though they got a lot of nerve'' from Things I Do For You is underrated. Even back in those days Michael was writing about people taking advantage of him for his money
 
I love this as a thread! It's hard to say which lyrics are underrated because I generally feel like MJ is not given near enough credit as a lyricist as it is (though I know you mentioned they could be written by him or someone else). But lyrics are *extremely* important to me, so I love to see a discussion about this!

The first song that comes to mind for me is Jam. His vocal delivery in the song is awesome and interesting, but it took me several times of hearing it to really process any of them. It wasn't until I looked them up and read them that I was surprised at how interesting they were. I love all of the lyrics in the first two verses. I could easily quote all of them, because I think they are brilliant. But the line paired with the vocal delivery on "you can't hurt me, I've found peace within myself" hits me really hard. And it's actually had kind of a profound impact on me personally, but that's another thread lol.

Another Part of Me - The entire song just lifts me into the universe. It was my first "favorite" MJ song. I know it's literally the chorus but it means so much to me: "We're sendin' out a major love/And this is our message to you (message to you)/The planets are linin' up/We're bringin' brighter days/They're all in line waitin' for you/Can't you see? You're just another part of me" - it aligns pretty much exactly with my personal beliefs about the interconnectedness of the human spirit. Paired, again, with how he performs it, it really hits me hard. Gives me a feeling of hope and makes me feel filled with love for the world. I could go on about this forever, but I'll spare you.

Who Is It - "I am the damned/I am the dead/I am the agony inside a dying head/This is injustice/woe unto thee/I pray this punishment would have mercy on me" - such a brilliant capture of the kind of heartbreak that guts everything inside of you.

I'm So Blue - "I can’t reveal, I’m holdin' on/I want you still to love me, I feel I am your fool" - Gutting. So real. How can anyone who has ever suffered in heartbreak not relate to this? I mean. The whole idea of having to bury feelings inside of yourself. To still want and love someone who has hurt you so badly. To still want so badly for them to love you. To feel like a fool, like they have humiliated you, like you humiliate yourself by continuing to love them, by feeling hopeless to escape those feelings. God, it's a terrible experience. But man, oh man, I love this song.

These are the first four that popped into my head. There are so so many more. I'm going to keep thinking about this.
 
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“Who Is It”: “I am the damned/I am the dead/I am the agony inside this dying head/This is injustice/Woe unto thee/I pray this punishment would have mercy on me”

“Is It Scary”: “Judge not what you seek of me/‘Cause the heart reveals the proof/Like a mirror reveals the truth/See, the evil one is you”

“Be Not Always”: “Always/Be not always/And if always/Bow our heads in shame/‘Cause time has made promises/Just promises”
 
SIM
"Take my name and just let me be"

WYBT
"Everyone's taking control of me
Seems that the world's got a role for me"

Jam
"I'm the temple
You can't hurt me
I found peace within myself"
 
Will you be there

”But they told me
A man should be faithful
And walk when not able
And fight 'til the end, but I'm only human”


We’ve had enough

”She innocently questioned why
Why her father had to die
She asked the men in blue
How is it that you get to choose
Who will live and who will die
Did god say that you could decide?
You saw he didn't run
And that my daddy had no gun”


Earth song

”do we give a damn”


They don’t care about us

“Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible 'cause you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I'm tired of bein' the victim of shame
They're throwin' me in a class with a bad name
I can't believe this is the land from which I came”


Childhood

”No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities
'Cause I keep kidding 'round
like a child but pardon me”


Bless his soul

”Sometimes I cry 'cause I'm confused
Is this a fact of being used?
There is no life for me at all
'Cause I give myself at beck and call”


Time waits for no one

“And I hope that she is thinkin'
To come back to me
And I'm scared there's someone sleepin' by her side
I can't hide all the pain deep inside, is this love?
Time waits for no one”


Can you feel it

“All the colors of the world should be
Lovin' each other wholeheartedly
Yes, it's all right
Take my message to your brother and tell him twice
Spread the word and try to teach the man
Who's hating his brother when hate won't do
Cause we're all the same
Yes the blood inside me is inside you

Be not always

”Faces
Did you see their faces?
Did they touch you?
Have you felt such pain?
To have nothing
To dream something
Then lose hoping
Is not life but lame?”


“Mothers cry, babies die
Helplessly in arms
While rockets fly and research lies
In progress to become
But what of men of flesh and blood?
We turn our backs on life
How can we claim to stand for peace
When the race is armed in strife
Destroying life?”
 
A few more ...

1 - In Our Small Way

"In despair, we'll be the hope
and the prayer that frees the soul"
(written by Beatrice Verdi and Christine Yarian)

Beautifully sung, it has an almost hymn-like quality to it, especially in these two lines (time stamp - 1m 35s). Very uplifting.

2 - Morphine

"I had to work baby
You just a rival"

Whatever the specific meaning of these lyrics they always make me think of how so many people compare Michael unfavourably to Prince. I'm not here to knock Prince but the never-ending emphasis on his ability to play 27 instruments vs. Michael not playing any (allegedly, lol) drives me nuts. Prince had his later childhood and his teen years to learn those instruments. Michael was already working his butt off as a fully-fledged professional, immersed already, as a child, in a phenomenal level of success.

3 - Little Susie

"Then to scream out
And nobody's there"

Self-explanatory.
 
2 - Morphine

"I had to work baby
You just a rival"

Whatever the specific meaning of these lyrics they always make me think of how so many people compare Michael unfavourably to Prince. I'm not here to knock Prince but the never-ending emphasis on his ability to play 27 instruments vs. Michael not playing any (allegedly, lol) drives me nuts. Prince had his later childhood and his teen years to learn those instruments. Michael was already working his butt off as a fully-fledged professional, immersed already, as a child, in a phenomenal level of success.
As many times as I've listened to Morphine, I never really thought about these particular lyrics. Wow. They are hitting me hard now. I wish I understood, from MJ, every single element of that song and every reference he is making. There are so many ways to interpret the structure of it, who he is speaking to, etc. I have a million ideas about it myself. But that song is one of those cases that I really, really wish I could sit and discuss it with him. Anyway, this lyric you pointed out is great and one that I don't normally take notice of. Perfect example of an "underrated" lyric :)
 
Prince had his later childhood and his teen years to learn those instruments.
add to that the fact that ,while he was a pro in that field with an unique sound,Prince was still a ,,self-taught,,. That's extremely impressive in my opinion. I consider Mike and Prince to be equal lol
 
add to that the fact that ,while he was a pro in that field with an unique sound,Prince was still a ,,self-taught,,. That's extremely impressive in my opinion. I consider Mike and Prince to be equal lol
Yeah, I mean, I'm not at all setting this up as Michael vs. Prince. It's other people that do that. But people do slag off Michael for the lack (as they see it) of ability re playing instruments. People mention the 27 instruments thing all the time. And it's a false comparison, imo. Michael simply couldn't have learnt dozens of instruments, given the work load he was carrying even as a young child. Not to mention Michael was self-taught as a dancer as far as I can tell. Which is hugely impressive.

Total respect to Prince for his achievements. Ngl, his music doesn't interest me. I prefer Sly Stone. But Prince was a fine musician and I'm not knocking him at all. But the comparisons drive me nuts cos I think people are trying to compare two completely different situations.

P.S. Also, I have no idea what Michael meant by these lyrics. Obviously! This is just what I think of when I hear them. I'm a great believer in lyrics having multiple meanings.
 
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2 - Morphine

"I had to work baby
You just a rival"
.
Where are these lines coming from? The 2nd verse? If so I think you've misheard them.

It's actually she'll never cook for me / she'll never bump, baby / I've gotten what, baby? / you're just a rival
 
Where are these lines coming from? The 2nd verse? If so I think you've misheard them.

It's actually she'll never cook for me / she'll never bump, baby / I've gotten what, baby? / you're just a rival
Entirely possible. That's what I've always heard but, yeah, could be I'm completely wrong.
 
Days In Gloucestershire

"Hold me like you really used to before we met the fall
I couldn't get it my youth is gone

We really had it all, ooh"

"I wish that we'll see Gloucestershire, again"
 
“Little Susie”: “To be damned to know hoping is dead and you’re doomed/Then to scream out, and nobody’s there/She knew no one cared”; “Neglection can kill/Like a knife in your soul, oh, it will/Little Susie fought so hard to live”

What a stunning yet disturbing song. It’s such a macabre subject, and those lines almost break through and give you pause. And to think he wrote it when he was 19-20. Absolutely insane.
 
“Little Susie”: “To be damned to know hoping is dead and you’re doomed/Then to scream out, and nobody’s there/She knew no one cared”; “Neglection can kill/Like a knife in your soul, oh, it will/Little Susie fought so hard to live”

What a stunning yet disturbing song. It’s such a macabre subject, and those lines almost break through and give you pause. And to think he wrote it when he was 19-20. Absolutely insane.
Yes! It IS macabre and stunning. Heartshakingly beautiful as well. It feels like an opera to me (so does Is It Scary) and it's so complete. It's like a Dickens novel in song form. The terrible cruelty of life, the tender compassion that does exist but which can't save everyone. I think the whole thing is underrated not just the lyrics. Michael was a great storyteller and this is one of his best.

That line you quoted - 'Little Susie fought so hard to live' - I couldn't bring myself to quote that one. It's so heartbreaking. It's the most significant line in the whole song, that's the whole story right there, imo.
 
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I love this as a thread! It's hard to say which lyrics are underrated because I generally feel like MJ is not given near enough credit as a lyricist as it is (though I know you mentioned they could be written by him or someone else). But lyrics are *extremely* important to me, so I love to see a discussion about this!L
He really isn't. I find it so weird. It's one of his great talents.

Who Is It - "I am the damned/I am the dead/I am the agony inside a dying head/This is injustice/woe unto thee/I pray this punishment would have mercy on me" - such a brilliant capture of the kind of heartbreak that guts everything inside of you.
It feels kind of trite - and predictable - to say this is very poetic. In fact, that whole thing of praising pop or rock lyrics by saying they are as good as poetry drives me nuts. I love poetry but it shouldn't be used to validate rock / pop lyrics. Like when they say Bob Dylan is as good as Keats. No, he isn't. He's just good. Full stop. I totally understand what they're doing and why they're doing it but it still annoys me.

Anyway. These lyrics are very, um, lyrical. The despair. The terrible pain. The resignation. The way he weaves it all into a beautiful, lyrical, lilting line - that takes some skill.
 
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Do you know where your children are?

She wrote that she is tired of step daddy using her
Saying that he'll buy her things,
while sexually abusing her
Just think that
she's all alone somewhere out on the street
How will this girl survive?
She ain't got nothing to eat!


This song is so beautiful and underrated its incredible.

I think it just throws out the narrative of Michael not "caring" if a child was sexually abused.

He's a sweetheart :(
 
Give In To Me

Don't try to understand me
Because your words just aren't enough
I also like the part that goes ;

You and your friends
Were laughing at me in town
But it's okay
And it's okay
You won't be laughing girl
When I'm not around
I'll be okay!
And I'll, I'll not find
Gotta, the peace of mind no!


Best song from Dangerous imo.
 
Michael on the power of lyrics: “Singers, when they sing songs: it’s like a mantra – when you repeat a chorus, over and over and over. So, when a kid hears a song, and he starts singing that chorus over and over and over, then you start to hear it in the alpha state into the subconscious mind. So, you start to become the song or become what you’re saying.”
 
“Little Susie”: “To be damned to know hoping is dead and you’re doomed/Then to scream out, and nobody’s there/She knew no one cared”; “Neglection can kill/Like a knife in your soul, oh, it will/Little Susie fought so hard to live”

What a stunning yet disturbing song. It’s such a macabre subject, and those lines almost break through and give you pause. And to think he wrote it when he was 19-20. Absolutely insane.

That line you quoted - 'Little Susie fought so hard to live' - I couldn't bring myself to quote that one. It's so heartbreaking. It's the most significant line in the whole song, that's the whole story right there, imo.
MJ thoughts on LS are well documented on his lyrics sheets

maybe she took her own life. she'd sing out such pain such strife. she was try to get attention, mentally and physically by singing every day at noon. she finally thought if she herself everyone who then give her that special attention that she desired far so badly for someone just to take notice of her.

I really should dig deep in child pschycology(sic!) to bring out her problems




lf
 
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Michael on the power of lyrics: “Singers, when they sing songs: it’s like a mantra – when you repeat a chorus, over and over and over. So, when a kid hears a song, and he starts singing that chorus over and over and over, then you start to hear it in the alpha state into the subconscious mind. So, you start to become the song or become what you’re saying.”
reading this, I think Unbreakable is a great empowerment song
underrated in my opinion
 
Good thread.

I'd go along with Jam. A very deep song, and one of my favourites from the album. Great verses, I sometimes wish the chorus was better.

I guess with the fast songs the lyrics can easily slip by unnoticed. Especially if people just think it's a dance song and aren't expecting to have to pay attention.

I love Little Susie, powerful song, I can never understand why people overlook it.

I'm surprised nobody has said anything from Bad or Thriller. WBSS, HN etc.
 
''Speed demon, you're the very same one
Who said the future's in your hands
The life you save could be your own
You're preachin' 'bout my life like you're the law
Gonna live each day and hour like
For me there's no tomorrow''
 
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