Mister_Jay_Tee
Proud Member
Damien Shields said it.Honestly having not heard the original I'm not gonna comment on how it was altered or how half hearted said altering was lol.
I wasn't there but I remember someone on this forum speaking about the song and they said they loved it. They found it hard to compare it to any other song but they said it was most like Behind The Mask
They said they couldn't stop humming "never to be found again, never to be found again" or something like that, which was the hook of the song and really catchy. It had a thunderous back beat and Michael towards the end of the track was almost only adlibbing Chicago, Chicago, Chicago. They said it sounded like a hit.
I also recall them saying something like, it was lyrically and vocally complete and only left off Xscape because the Estate needed Steve Porcaro's permission to remix it and he didn't want it remixing. - @SmoothCriminal1995
From Damien Shields:
The song “Chicago 1945", on the other hand, makes a number of significant Chicago-related citations. The World’s Fair (which visited Chicago), The Chicago Tribune (local newspaper), Al Capone (of ‘The Chicago Outfit’ fame), and so on. While making these citations it tells the story of a mysterious disappearance in the area. “Three girls disappeared on a cold windy night, never to be found again, never to be found again!” sings Jackson in the first verse. “Who solved the mystery late Chicago night? Ya can’t hide the truth so won’t ya turn on the light,” he continues in the choruses, before launching into a flurry of high-pitched “hoo-hoo” and “hee-hee” ad libs. The track finishes with Jackson chanting “Chicago! Chicago!” over and over in his trademark, gritty (slightly angry) vocal-style. The track was constantly on Jackson’s mind over the course of his career, and was worked on during the ‘Invincible’ sessions and again at Neverland in 2004.
From @morinen, a fan who attended the Brad Sundberg seminar where the song was played:
After the Thriller album came out, during the Victory tour (or maybe right before it) Porcaro submitted a few grooves to Michael. Sometime later MJ called Steve and told him that he wanted to do something with one of them. Apparently, he had gone to the library and read on Chicago of the 1930s-40s, and that’s how he came up with an idea for the song. He and Porcaro met and recorded nine straight vocal takes for what would become “Chicago 1945.”
Of course, it’s impossible to describe music in text, but here are five things you need to know about “Chicago 1945”:
— The song is completed musically an vocally and perfectly releasable as is;
— It has no connection to “Al Capone” or “Smooth Criminal” (another myth) – a completely different and separate song;
— The lyrics tell a story about (three?) girls who went out at night and disappeared;
— It’s a catchy song. Not the level of greatness of “Billie Jean” or “Beat It,” but a solid groove. The hook (“Never to be found again… never to be found again”) was stuck in my head for 3 days after we had heard it;
— As the song was playing, I was trying to find another MJ song to compare it to. The closest I could come up with was “Behind the Mask” – the song is in the same tempo, and even the composition seemed somewhat similar to me. Although I think “Chicago 1945” is sung in a lower key – Michael’s voice is not as resonant as in “BTM.”