This Is It
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Collected/transcribed by myself. More information welcome.
"One morning Michael came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. "Here's the first chord, first note, second note, third note. Here's the second chord, first note, second note, third note," etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57… He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head; harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. He would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills." - Rob Hoffman, HIStory mixer (Gearslutz forum posts).
"Don't write the song. Don't write anything. Let the song create itself. Let the strings tell you what to do, where they should come. Let the piano tell you what chords to hear, what to feel. Let the bass tell you what it should be doing. Everything. Let it create itself, let if form. Let it do what it wants to do. Don't force it on the song, let the song force it on you." - Michael Jackson, The Girl Is Mine court case, 1993.
"The songwriting process is very difficult to explain because it's spiritual. It is just really in the hands of God, and exists and has been written already. It's been written in its entirety before you've been born and you're just the source through which the songs come comes. They just fall right into your lap in its entirety. You don't have to do much thinking about it, and I feel guilty having to put my name sometimes on the songs that I… I do write them - I compose them, I write them, I do the scores, I do the lyrics, I do the melodies - but still it's the work of God. It's like having children, having to raise them and once they get into the world they’re on their own. So it's very exciting and you never get too used to it ever. It's an incredible process, but you leave it in the hands of God, like you do when you’re having a child. I don't believe in stylising or branding any type of music. I think a great artist should be able to create any style, any form, anything - from rock to pop to folk to gospel to spiritual to just wonderful music. When I’m working though I don't think I'm not ifluenced by a lot of the music today - I pretty much create what is in my heart. I try to be as original as possible. I don't feel like I'm going to make a great R&B song or a great pop song, I just wanna make a great song." - Michael Jackson, audio recording
"How do I write a song? If I sat down at a piano, if I sat here and played some chords or whatever and say I'm going to write the best song I've ever written, nothing happens. Something in the heavens just has to say, look, this is the time, this is gonna be laid on you and this is why I want you to have it. I remember when I wrote Billie Jean I was writing in my car down Ventrilo Boulevard. All I said to myself beforehand was, I wanna write a song with a great bass hook. I just let it go and several days later… [beatboxes hook]. [It came] from above. Artists seem to get in the way of the music - get out of the way of the music, don't write the music. Let the music write itself." - Michael Jackson, Living with Michael Jackson, 2003
"I don't think it’s necessary [to read music]. I don't, neither did Lennon and McCartney… Each time I hear chords, any type of chord progression, I hear a million different melodies in my head." - Michael Jackson, Dangerous Deposition, 1994
"One morning Michael came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. "Here's the first chord, first note, second note, third note. Here's the second chord, first note, second note, third note," etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57… He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head; harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. He would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills." - Rob Hoffman, HIStory mixer (Gearslutz forum posts).
"Don't write the song. Don't write anything. Let the song create itself. Let the strings tell you what to do, where they should come. Let the piano tell you what chords to hear, what to feel. Let the bass tell you what it should be doing. Everything. Let it create itself, let if form. Let it do what it wants to do. Don't force it on the song, let the song force it on you." - Michael Jackson, The Girl Is Mine court case, 1993.
"The songwriting process is very difficult to explain because it's spiritual. It is just really in the hands of God, and exists and has been written already. It's been written in its entirety before you've been born and you're just the source through which the songs come comes. They just fall right into your lap in its entirety. You don't have to do much thinking about it, and I feel guilty having to put my name sometimes on the songs that I… I do write them - I compose them, I write them, I do the scores, I do the lyrics, I do the melodies - but still it's the work of God. It's like having children, having to raise them and once they get into the world they’re on their own. So it's very exciting and you never get too used to it ever. It's an incredible process, but you leave it in the hands of God, like you do when you’re having a child. I don't believe in stylising or branding any type of music. I think a great artist should be able to create any style, any form, anything - from rock to pop to folk to gospel to spiritual to just wonderful music. When I’m working though I don't think I'm not ifluenced by a lot of the music today - I pretty much create what is in my heart. I try to be as original as possible. I don't feel like I'm going to make a great R&B song or a great pop song, I just wanna make a great song." - Michael Jackson, audio recording
"How do I write a song? If I sat down at a piano, if I sat here and played some chords or whatever and say I'm going to write the best song I've ever written, nothing happens. Something in the heavens just has to say, look, this is the time, this is gonna be laid on you and this is why I want you to have it. I remember when I wrote Billie Jean I was writing in my car down Ventrilo Boulevard. All I said to myself beforehand was, I wanna write a song with a great bass hook. I just let it go and several days later… [beatboxes hook]. [It came] from above. Artists seem to get in the way of the music - get out of the way of the music, don't write the music. Let the music write itself." - Michael Jackson, Living with Michael Jackson, 2003
"I don't think it’s necessary [to read music]. I don't, neither did Lennon and McCartney… Each time I hear chords, any type of chord progression, I hear a million different melodies in my head." - Michael Jackson, Dangerous Deposition, 1994
i have to read this RIGHT NOW, THANKS :cheeky: