Michael Jackson: Larger than life

Jun 28, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I was having dinner with my wife at New Thriving when my daughter called my phone to inform me that Michael Jackson had died. When she was a little primary school kid, my daughter, like most girls her age on Planet Earth, had a fantastic obsession with Jackson. Every day in the car, while taking her to school, I had to answer a question or two about Jackson. She was about eight years then. Twelve years after my daughter still loves the music of this phenomenon that the world will never forget.
As a lover of all kinds of music, I never really was into the Jackson Five. Their songs were great but somehow it wasn’t the genre that I would be inebriated with. I got to love the music of Michael Jackson on a cold evening in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada at Mac Master University.

It was Christmas Eve in 1979 and everyone was leaving the campus for the holiday break. The undergraduate disco was the only place opened. A couple of us, graduate students walked in and Jackson’s hugely successful first solo album without his brothers released in August of that year, “Off the Wall” was playing. It was just fine music from a fine singer. You had to like it. From that night on, I took an interest in the music of Michael Jackson. I went out and bought that record and I still have it neatly tucked away with my other favourite albums.

I do not like many of the songs on his subsequent albums but there are others that are just superb and par excellence. All his albums, since “Off the wall” consist of fantastic music. My favourite Jackson tune is one that I doubt would make the list of ten great Jackson renditions, but I adore the song and the inimitable voice of Michael Jackson. It is “The Lady in My Life.”
I believe the song touched a nerve in me because of the bond between me and my wife. I would like to share a few lines with you because “The Lady in My Life” remains for me the only song where Jackson came close to classy poetry

There’ll be no darkness tonight
Lady our love will shine
Just put your trust in my heart
And meet me in paradise
You’re every wonder in this world to me
A treasure time won’t steal away

So listen to my heart
Lay your body close to mine
Let me fill you with my dreams
I can make you feel all right
And baby through the years
Even when we’re old and grey
I will love you more each day
‘Cause you’ll always be the lady in my life

I do not believe any commentator, whether in the print or electronic media should complete their career without a look at one of the 20th century’s most curious human beings, Michael Jackson. For me he was an extremely talented man who gave the world forms of music that will endure forever. I guess most people who listened to “Heal the World” will love and cherish that composition. Like the poetry in “The Lady in My Life,” this song is a lovely reflection on philosophy and the human condition.
Outside of his talent, Michael Jackson will go down in history as one of the weirdest human beings that ever came into the international spotlight, and by this I mean an internationally known person be it politician, war hero, athlete. He will be remembered by our generation and perhaps the newly emerging generation as a complex figure that was sad and tragic. A few things were just not right. These traits may have their reasons for coming to life but these anomalies were definitely and unquestionably macabre.

Why he did the things he did we will never know but a few speculations seem in order. He said he had a skin problem but the consensus among the experts was that he bleached it. He fixed his nose. That along with other forms of plastic surgery are well known and it not a secret. It is argued by some that he desperately wanted to have Caucasian features. The controversy surrounds the actual race of his children. Even if one undergoes plastic surgery, bleaches one’s skin and straightens one’s hair could one alter the genes to father a kid that would not bear any resemblance to one’s ethnicity? I’m no scientist but I doubt that.
Now that he is dead, there should be questions asked of his medical advisors. Could the human body survive a decade and a half of the infusion of all kinds of chemicals and pharmaceuticals as in the case of Jackson? Didn’t they tell him that? Despite his flaws, he was a talent beyond comparison. Such a pity he lived such a strange life.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News