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Why hasn't Smooth Criminal with the moonwalker lyrics gotten an official CD release?

analogue

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As far as I know the Moonwalker lyrics for Smooth Criminal (''Everytime I try to find him, he's leaving no clues left behind him'') has never gotten an official CD release. I think the reason why those lyrics were originally cut was because they had to make space so the song could fit onto the cassette. But ever since CD's were released and with all the different versions of the BAD album over the years you'd think that the extra Moonwalker lyrics would have been added back in. It's strange how that's never happened. It could have been included on BAD 25 as a bonus song. Just call it ''Smooth Criminal: Moonwalker Version''

And what's funny is that if they cutout the spoken intro for ISCSLY on the cassette then that would have given them more space to add the Moonwalker lyrics for Smooth Criminal.
 
analogue said:
I think the reason why those lyrics were originally cut was because they had to make space so the song could fit onto the cassette.
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This does not make any sense because these are just 2-3 extra lines and cutting them off would not really make space so the song could fit onto the cassette.

They could have shortened the chorus towards the ending of the song (which is very repetitive and annoying) if they wanted to make space for the cassette, for example.

The interesting thing here is that the Moonwalker version of the song (with these few extra lines) is the original version, because, according to Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson first recorded the song for the film, and then the song was re-edited for the album.
 
at least we got the multitracks and people like nick* did mixes with full lyrics/vocals.
 
Yeah completely agree mate
What's funny is whenever Mike sang the song live, he sang the "Moonwalker" lyrics as well

I always thought the full dance single mix of the song (that's about 5.30 long) would have fit great on Bad 25 instead of a remix
 
You would think that they could have released Smooth Criminal Moonwalker version on Bad 25, instead of those rubbish Pitbull & Afrojack remixes.
 
SmoothCriminal1995 said:
Yeah completely agree mate
What's funny is whenever Mike sang the song live, he sang the "Moonwalker" lyrics as well

I always thought the full dance single mix of the song (that's about 5.30 long) would have fit great on Bad 25 instead of a remix
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It never dawned upon me mate that Smooth Criminal must be your favorite song hence your username haha.

Maybe this was at the behest of Quincy? I recall Quincy not being too fond of Smooth Criminal. Honestly I see no reason for them not including that verse on later editions.

Sidenote: I really wish they would have included an extended version of Fly Away on Bad25 cause I so badly wanted to hear those adlibs near the end. The same one we hear on Rebbies version
 
Hahaha that's brilliant, you're right mate it is my favourite song, it's the first song I ever remember hearing, I didn't know what the words were but I knew how they sounded.
Then I saw the short film and I was hooked. Every time I see the video I'm transported back to being that 5 year old that was obsessed by it and I've grown out of thinking it was the coolest thing I've ever seen and that Michael was at his coolest during it

Sidenote : I've told my girlfriend that I'm wearing that white suit on our wedding day, she is currently strongly against it, understandably haha

I think it probably was Quincy not being fond of it, he was probably eager to edit it down and have the album not dwell on the song too much. I can only guess that it's like them not releasing the full version of, Lady In My Life, in that the general public know it a certain way so they leave it the way it is? Just a guess on my part?

That would have been amazing wouldn't it? I love those adlibs at the end of Rebbie's version, they remind me of Beautiful Girl and the live YANA adlibs Mike did at the 1995 MTV awards ("I am hear to stay"). Michael's voice really soars at the end of Fly Away

Apologies about the long post guys 🙌
 
I'm going to expose myself as such a newbie with half my posts, lol... But how have I listened to/watched this so many times without ever noticing this? The second verse always seemed a bit awkward to me, too abrupt. Which I always figured was just how the song was written, it's not unusual for a pop song to want to go right back into the hook. But this was way before the absolute sterilization of everything pop, so the fact that the OG version does in fact include a full second verse but "had to be cut" makes soooooooo much sense after all these years.
 
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