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What finished outtakes could have taken "Come Together"'s place on History

Spaceship

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It really made no sense to include "Come Together" on the album, seeing as it was recorded all the way back in 1986 and released as a B-side in 1992 (not to mention being featured on Moonwalker in 1989). Couldn't "On the Line", "Morphine" or "Is It Scary" have been on History instead?
 
I really dont like come together, even as a Beatles song.

Of all the songs MJ could have covered, he did this. Imagine MJ singing strawberry fields forever or hey jude
 
I think the best option would be Morphine but any other song would be better, like Much Too Soon or even another Beatles song.
 
Spaceship said:
It really made no sense to include "Come Together" on the album, seeing as it was recorded all the way back in 1986 and released as a B-side in 1992 (not to mention being featured on Moonwalker in 1989). Couldn't "On the Line", "Morphine" or "Is It Scary" have been on History instead?
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Yeah there were many songs that could have replaced "Come Together" like "Streetwalker" (Bill Bottrell 1988 mix), Do You Know Where Your Children Are (1990 rework with Slash), but I think Michael wanted something that was an outtake at the time that had hard vocals and a beat, and found "Come Together". "Come Together" also needed an album release, because it's only presence was in "Moonwalker".
 
Amari3009 said:
Yeah there were many songs that could have replaced "Come Together" like "Streetwalker" (Bill Bottrell 1988 mix), Do You Know Where Your Children Are (1990 rework with Slash), but I think Michael wanted something that was an outtake at the time that had hard vocals and a beat, and found "Come Together". "Come Together" also needed an album release, because it's only presence was in "Moonwalker".
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Are you referring to the 2010 mix with Steve Lukather on guitar?

IMO Come Together is one of, if not the best, rock song MJ ever recorded and I’m glad he released it as a B-side and featured it on Moonwalker. With that being said it shouldn’t have been on HIStory. I would have replaced it with either Is It Scary or Morphine. In fact , the inclusion of both those songs would have made the album even stronger imo.
 
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It fits the album. Any others wouldn't have fit.

He could have at least re-recorded it though.
 
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Come Together makes sense on many levels.
It brings the first and the second half of HIStory together.
It is a song that points out to not think in schemes with all these individuals mentioned - and Michael was put in a scheme since 1993.
Come Together is historical and still sounds modern with the harder edge he gave the song.
 
Come Together is one of the coolest MJ songs! It's better than most History songs! 😎
 
Let's not forget, that History is Michael's most private album. It literally contain songs, that somehow reflect Michael's soul. Every song is refelction of Michael's life from different angle. Smile, Come Together shows us that Michael was a big fan of Beetles and Charlie Chaplin. History album without thess songs is not History. But I agree about Moprhine: this song definatelly had to be included in set list... But on the other hand, it fits perfectly to BOTDF album, which is basically History Book II (in the way of meaning)
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Hot_Street said:
what more could you ask for
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Oh I dunno, maybe new music, not old crap released three years ago.

Wasn't only the first disc supposed to have old songs? So wtf is "Come Together" doing on the second disc. May as well throw in other old crap like "Someone Put Your Hand Out" on there, then. Completely arbitrary and the fact that MJ didn't even bother rerecording it is objectively lazy. But I guess some people will just defend anything lol
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
It fits the album. Any others wouldn't have fit.
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Some random Beatles song doesn't fit an album that's supposed to be about someone's trials and tribulations. "Morphine" and "Is It Scary" would have fit much better. The latter would be right at home with the other Jam & Lewis songs.

Amari3009 said:
Yeah there were many songs that could have replaced "Come Together" like "Streetwalker" (Bill Bottrell 1988 mix), Do You Know Where Your Children Are (1990 rework with Slash), but I think Michael wanted something that was an outtake at the time that had hard vocals and a beat, and found "Come Together". "Come Together" also needed an album release, because it's only presence was in "Moonwalker".
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It was already on the CD single for "Remember the Time" released three years before History.
 
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Spaceship said:
Oh I dunno, maybe new music, not old crap released three years ago.
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I'm sure Come Together had a meaning for Michael. With all these allegation he didn't feel free at that time. And one line in the song goes:
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come Together got a an existential meaning for him after 1993
 
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Come to think of it, wasn't "Come Together" left in demo form on History? They didn't even bother finishing the mix; just took an old demo from 1986.

"It fits because he talks about being 'free'" lol may as well throw in "Free", another Bad era demo. Or literally any demo in existence and y'all would still be defending it XD
 
Spaceship said:
"It fits because he talks about being 'free'" lol may as well throw in "Free", another Bad era demo. Or literally any demo in existence and y'all would still be defending it XD
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Come Together celebrates individuality. Free doesn't.
Open your eyes, Spaceship. It isn't hard to do.
 
Zeus 7 said:
The song is there because it indicates his ATV ownership, its part of HIStory, it also follows Money on the album which says a lot
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Come Togethers sibling on the first disc is Man in the Mirror. Both on 8., both classics about society.
 
I genuinely believe that the only reason it's on there was to do with a contractual obligation he had with Sony when selling part of ATV. Something to do with showing the catalogues worth to Sony's investors or something.

Either way, it was definately a business, rather than artistic decision
 
Looking back in retrospect, since Morphine & Is It Scary were released on blood and knowing that many songs were edited (some of them radically) due to the limiting cd specs, the best option imo would have been just 14 songs on disc 2.
 
Spaceship said:
Come to think of it, wasn't "Come Together" left in demo form on History? They didn't even bother finishing the mix; just took an old demo from 1986.

"It fits because he talks about being 'free'" lol may as well throw in "Free", another Bad era demo. Or literally any demo in existence and y'all would still be defending it XD
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No additional work was done on it for History. It does sound pretty similar though yeah.
 
Spaceship said:
It really made no sense to include "Come Together" on the album, seeing as it was recorded all the way back in 1986 and released as a B-side in 1992 (not to mention being featured on Moonwalker in 1989). Couldn't "On the Line", "Morphine" or "Is It Scary" have been on History instead?
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I feel History should have been an an album of him explaining, well.. his story. A concept album. Would have been stronger if non-personal tracks had been left off. So like angry songs about the press or the allegations make sense like 'Scream', 'D.S', 'Money', 'This Time Around', '2Bad', 'Tabloid Junkie', and 'Childhood' for it's explanatory theme about him hanging out with childreen. However songs like 'Come Together', 'You Are Not Alone', 'Little Susie' and 'Smile do not imho.

With use of (news/interview) samples, 'Stranger In Moscow' could be about his loneliness after the allegations and 'Earth Song' about his passion for the world and 'They Don't Care About Us' about injustice after the allegations but are now without personal context to make it a concept album. 'Morphine', also with some contextual help from samples, would actually be a very good fit on the album since it's also highly personal.
 
Victorious said:
However songs like 'Come Together', 'You Are Not Alone', 'Little Susie' and 'Smile do not imho.
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Nah, "You Are Not Alone" and "Smile" definitely fit. Anger and sadness are two sides of the same coin; while most of the other tracks on History are angry, some like "You Are Not Alone" and "Smile" describe how MJ dealt with his sadness after the allegations. He turned to his family, friends and fans for support, which is the basis for "You Are Not Alone", and he tried his best to smile through his sadness, which is covered by "Smile".
 
Come Together is probably my least favorite MJ song and On The Line would fit sooooo much more.
 
Victorious said:
I feel History should have been an an album of him explaining, well.. his story. A concept album. Would have been stronger if non-personal tracks had been left off.
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I feel like Stranger in Moscow is way more personal to him than Money, tbh. Anyway, these songs are meant to be played forever, not just in 1995. It's behind a one context.

For more conceptual stuff, there's the 5 tracks of BOTDF and, to be real, Off the Wall is the most conceptual album. It's all about the party life, the highs, and the lows. Even Xscape reasonably sticks to a theme of escapism (in love and good relationships, from bad relationships from bad situations, from society.)
 
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