There are many things I will remember about Michael Jackson,
but first and foremost, I will recall his humanitarianism. He always
struck me a man who was profoundly concerned about the welfare of the
disenfranchised, especially children. Throughout the '80s and '90s, this
focus was especially evident in songs like Man in the Mirror, Earth Song and, of course, We Are the World,
a massive effort uniting many of the biggest musical superstars of the
day for the sake of raising money for famine relief in Africa. Similar
in tone and message to the latter is 1991's Heal the World, one of Jackson's quietest but ultimately most impressive hits.
Like
several of his inspirational-style songs, it has a chorus that, at one
point, grows mightier with each repetition as the accompanying choir
swells. By the end of the song, you're left with the impression that
everybody in the world truly is pitching in to help, while the child at
the end drives home the point that each one of us ought to make an
individual, personal effort. It's a child who starts and ends the song,
one by speaking, the other by singing, and while it's a Jackson solo
until about two-thirds of the way through the song, the children are the
stars of the video, with the King of Pop completely absent. Of all his
videos, at least the ones I've seen, I would say that this one is the
least egocentric. I also discovered that, according to a 2001 chat
session with fans, it's the song of which he's proudest.
Heal the World
seems to me to have a very '70s vibe to it. It's mellow in the extreme,
with the first half, anyway, sounding more like John Denver's style
than Michael Jackson's - and I suspect that Denver approved of this song
heartily. I'm not aware of their ever having worked together, but when
it came to issues like the ones explored in this song, I think they were
very much on the same page. What a collaboration that would have been!
The video's whole theme of children (toting flowers, no less) convincing
soldiers to lay down their guns feels very hippie-ish and reminds me
specifically of Rhymes and Reasons,
in which Denver sings, "For the children and the flowers are my sisters
and my brothers" and "It is written, 'From the desert to the mountains
they shall lead us...'"
I don't know that I'd ever actually
watched the video before this week. If I did, it was a long time ago,
and as I never had MTV, I don't know when the occasion would have
arisen. I'm not a huge fan of music videos in general, but I generally
like Jackson's, and I love this one. It feels so cinematic, so simple
but powerful. It cuts between scenes of peace and destruction, of
children playing and of bombs going off. It soon becomes the story of an
ever-growing group of children from all walks of life drawing near to a
group of heavily armed soldiers, who begin to take note of their
approach and ultimately are moved, in the face of such innocence, to
trade their guns for flowers. At that point, the rest of the video
involves a candlelight vigil whose attendance grows with each increase
in volume in the repeated chorus. There's a certain naivety to the
video, but then Jackson was never known for being 100 percent in tune
with reality. And who knows? If everyone took the sentiments in this
song to heart, maybe wars could end this painlessly.
Jackson's
voice always was on the high side, but this song showcases his upper
register even more than most. It's so soft and flutey, and especially in
the verses, it sounds like he's going into a falsetto. While the
opening line of the song doesn't quite work for me ("There's a place in
your heart, and I know that it is love" seems as grammatically suspect
as "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"), I
love the lyrics in general. "We stop existing and start living" is a
great line, and lines like "See the nations turn their swords into
ploughshares" give the song a biblical resonance. The chorus works best
of all; it's powerful and easy to remember, especially since it's
repeated so many times. By the time the song ends, the message has
really been driven home.
Michael Jackson was right to be proud
of this song. It's one of his finest, especially when the video is
factored into the equation. In fact, the video is on the verge of
displacing my long-held favorite, Will You Be There. Unlike that exuberant number, Heal the World isn't the sort of song that makes you want to get up and dance. But it does make you want to get up and make a difference.
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