Friday, June 26th, 2009

Michael Jackson :: Morning’s End

Home.

Long before anyone could read into Michael Jackson’s cubist, etiolated face a work of performance art, the wounds of internalized racism, or the excess of boredom and wealth, all those things that would make us either look away or gawk, there was his voice.

The thing that Berry Gordy heard from the 10-year old boy was “knowingness”, he said, “feeling, inspiration, and pain”. There was an early protest song, “The Young Folks”, that now seems telling. But as time went on, Gordy and his songwriters gave Michael songs in which loss loomed large, the better to exploit that glorious instrument of his. And for that voice, he lost his childhood.

Or more precisely, he gave it to us. Many of his most affecting performances were about distance and displacement, the desire to be somewhere else, the inability to return to a lost past. Think of the songs that the hip-hop generation adored so much: “I’ll Be There”, “I Wanna Be Where You Are”, “Who’s Loving You”, “Maybe Tomorrow”, “All I Do Is Think Of You”, “Ready Or Not”. On these songs, Michael’s “knowingness” sounds more like fragility. (On the other hand, but hardly balancing the scale, is the joyous Bronx summer break of “It’s Great To Be Here”.)

If you want to wonder how ambivalent this boy-dream, this incarnation of all our notions about youth and beauty, felt about the limelight and wanting to be “normal”, listen to him sing “Got To Be There”. When he sees the girl of his desire walk into the morning light, it’s as if he has transferred the shine away from himself to her, imagining a perfect love above the blood and grind of the daily celebrity-making machine. When he hits that high “me” (matched later by the word “home”), he has given all of it up to all of us.

But as an audience, we were insatiable and ruthless. Years later, after the satisfaction and ease of his 20s, after he had been broken by self-mutilation and bizarre scandal in his 30s, Michael Jackson would reveal a tragic, bathetic emptiness, pleading, “Have you seen my childhood?” By then, many of us had either turned away or turned on him. The transaction was done.

In the end, he lost even his voice, autotuned first by lawyers and other keepers of his dissipating wealth, consumed by Mickey Mouse-sounding paid-TV defenses and overproduced songs, before finally going silent forever. Time will restore the greatness of Michael Jackson’s artistry. May it also cause us some revulsion at our complicity in his fall as well.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 12:34 am | 36 Comments

36 Responses to “Michael Jackson :: Morning’s End”

Eat My Shorts says:

June 26, 2009 at 1:25 am

great post Jeff. a truly great voice that didnt beat u over the head to convince u of its greatness.
sharon p. says:

June 26, 2009 at 6:21 am

my friend told me to have a look at your post. thank you. how will i remember him? as the person who bought the elephant man’s bones just so he could bury them. who will he remind me of? Zora Neale Hurston, who was also accused of child molestation in 1948 — an accusation that caused her to leave the “community” she had dedicated her life to. what will I listen to? “ABC” — it helped me to understand what “school” was all about.
Jay Legaspi says:

June 26, 2009 at 6:58 am

Beautifully written as always homie.
Carlton Turner says:

June 26, 2009 at 6:59 am

Thanks Jeff. This sums it up. We will never understand what it feels like to have to guard your existence from the world. I still have the luxury of going to a restaurant, the movies, hanging out with my children at the park, all of the things that we take for granted. Michael gave us all a voice, an image, a move to unite us across generations, nationalities, and class. I wonder what he would have been like if the same media that had torn him down over the past decade had given him the praise they have over the last 15 hours while he was alive. We might have repaired his broken heart.
pattiepsc says:

June 26, 2009 at 7:02 am

this is such a well written synopsis of Michael’s yearning and quest for something we all take for granted; but nevertheless the price he paid so we could enjoy his talent.
susan starr says:

June 26, 2009 at 7:03 am

please watch tammy johnson’s 2-minute video on the RaceWire.org website…an odd place to put a fundraising plea, but think about supporting ARC, which gave Jeff his first public voice and gives us people like tammy…
Tammy says:

June 26, 2009 at 7:59 am

Great post Jeff. I felt like I lost Mike years ago. Yesterday made the feelings real. I hope that he truly is resting in peace.
Ted Swedenburg says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:05 am

Thanks, a great, and moving, tribute. My favorite bar played Michael all night last night. Everyone loved it. And doesn’t MJ get serious props for being the Jackie Robinson of pop–for breaking the MTV color bar?
Priscilla Page says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:16 am

Jeff, so moving and so thoughtful. Thank you for this.
Ellyn says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:22 am

Thank you. from my heart.
Michael Jackson Linkpile says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:23 am

[…] Chang – Morning’s End Many of his most affecting performances were about distance and displacement, the desire to be […]
Michael A. Gonzales says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:29 am

…very nice, jeff. i too listened to mj last night in my favorite bar and it was amazing. i knew every song by heart, even the ones i didn’t like. michael j was a master.
Elizabeth Mendez Berry says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:42 am

Jeff– this is so heartfelt, so beautifully written. You capture our complicity in his demise with the perfect line: “And for that voice, he lost his childhood.” Thank you.
MAN says:

June 26, 2009 at 9:03 am

Brilliant, comrade, Brilliant!
babkubwa says:

June 26, 2009 at 9:20 am

“You capture our complicity in his demise with the perfect line: “And for that voice, he lost his childhood.” Thank you.”

Exactly. thanks for writing this.

lets hope people re appreciate the music as it deserves now.

RIP Michael
Mia says:

June 26, 2009 at 9:25 am

Jeff-thanks for a great piece. What a great artist, innovator, entertainer. He gave us so much joy, so many memories. We ultimately broke his heart. May he rest in peace.
Goodbye Michael Jackson - The Paragon Muse says:

June 26, 2009 at 9:44 am

[…] Just read a beautiful piece on MJ by Jeff Chang: Michael Jackson :: Morning’s End // Tags: Michael Jackson Categories: Pop […]
Columbus Caribbean says:

June 26, 2009 at 9:46 am

Absolutely well written piece in reference to a complex man who emobodied to contradictions of the society which created him. The man in the mirror was Michael himself, he reflected so much of this societies image right back at them… the beauty that was always there but the pain that was slowly eating at us all.
Marq says:

June 26, 2009 at 10:01 am

Amen. Couldn’t have said it any better.
indigo says:

June 26, 2009 at 11:29 am

Thank you Jeff, I knew I could count on you to say it right! Short, sweet & to the point. (Instead of all this inept flailing about that’s getting published elsewhere on the topic!)
Kyra Gaunt says:

June 26, 2009 at 12:57 pm

Hey Jeff,
This was really sweet, tender and captured the essence of that space between him and the rest of the world that wanted him even when we thought we couldn’t stand what it was doing to him. We are complicit. And I’d say it’s the paradox of life for us all. We are all eye to eye with each other’s humanity pretending we are not and it doesn’t really matter anyway.

The way ya make me feel / It rea-lly turns me on! / Knocks me offa my feet / My lon-e-ly days are gone.
Fanon Che Wilkins says:

June 26, 2009 at 3:34 pm

Jeff:

Man you have me in tears brotha. You have absolutely nailed it. This is the finest piece of writing on Mike that I have read yet. You have captured the tragedy and beauty of our King like no other. All praises to you for doing us such a wonderful service. We must amplify your genius. Thank you so so so much.

Oneheart,
Fanon
kay says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:11 pm

i will never turn on my mj…never. thank you for this.
Of all the things written… says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:34 pm

[…] this is some of the best commentary we’ve read: Jeff Chang’s blog. […]
Reeta Luthra says:

June 27, 2009 at 5:05 am

Thank you Jeff for a beautiful write-up.
Andy Schwartz says:

June 27, 2009 at 11:11 am

Thanks, Jeff. I especially appreciated the mention of several MJ/Jacksons tracks not previously known to me like “The Young Folks,” All I Do Is Think Of You,” and “Ready Or Not” — all of which I will now seek out.

That put the focus back on the music. And to listen and dance to Michael’s best music (with his brothers or on his own) is really the best response to all the ghoulish post-mortems and self-important “analysis” that now will fill the airwaves.
wayneandwax.com » Pop Goes the World says:

June 29, 2009 at 9:38 am

[…] many others I feel compelled to say something. Inspired even. I found Andrew Sullivan’s and Jeff Chang’s posts pretty resonant, Jason King’s too, among others, and I’ve been particularly […]
FOBBDeep: Fear of a Brown Blogger » Blog Archive » Michael’s Music & Me says:

June 29, 2009 at 10:43 pm

[…] Jeff Chang – “Michael Jackson::Morning’s End” […]
Jano says:

June 30, 2009 at 7:50 am

Jeff, I love your writing. As I stayed on youtube watching one MJ video after the other, (until the sun came up), I was shaken by looking at how much he changed physically.
“What would have happened, what impact could he have had on brown kids with wide noses if…”, I thought.

Then I came to my senses. If he had kept his features, his kinky hair and didn’t have the skin disease,not only would the world have rejected his genius, he probably would have been shot coming out of a 7-11 opening a pack of gum.

I would have not paid the rent, stood in line in frigid Chicago temperatures to see Michael Jackson.
Ann-Marie N. says:

June 30, 2009 at 10:33 am

this was a great post Jeff. Thanks for sharing. He gave up his childhood for all of us.
Body Detox Diets says:

June 30, 2009 at 6:44 pm

I will surely miss Michael Jackson, he is really worthy of the name King of Pop and he is certainly one of the greatest musicians of all time.
Annie says:

July 1, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Michael Jackson
He passed too soon
Those who took his mortality
have lost their own
Their hearts are Brick
This is more than sick!
This is another trick
to teach society that he
can be used and abused
(called to slave rather than serve)
They have no nerve!
But-yes, he can!
He can have a place for us all
Who make This Place-This Planet better
For he stood for wholeness
He stood for innocence
He stood for Choice.
They have no voice!
Michael’s silence is louder
than life – by
resting in us
Telling us we are all okay
We are all loved by God-Allah-Our Creator
Who is greater
Who brings strength
Even when our last length
Seems to unfold.
Michael’s Silence
Is Truth –
A fountain of Youth
Requesting for us to be kind –
Be Respectful, don’t be forgetful
of the real purpose in Life.
Their ship is skinking!
As our active thinking
Learns as he – the info sponge
who sought to apply
all the why’s answered
who sought to apply
Peace as the Answer
Despite confronting conflicts.
They would sell him out
They would sniff out his possessions
And told Michael his: only concessions
that are of worth, are what our Earth –
Our World – our Universe gains;
‘Christianity’ remains
and therefore he gains for his his soul.”
Because they coveted his soul
to mold imbalance
and hence, constantly causing turmoil
But his was a soul of Promise
The soul that colored
The soul that keeps what is his
The soul that enjoys
girls and boys
playing in Innocence.
They took! They are crooks!
They don’t care – they don’t add
They take
They are Social Parasites
Whose might grows
As they know Michael
And penetrate his life –
in ways that emplored him to build Walls
Just to take –
to take his dignity
To take his mind
To take his simplicity
And create unkind
Walls
Michael lived in Truth
Which was why his love for Youth
Took priority
He lived beyond Greed
He freed the world to express
with his own Best
Yet they continued testing
Messing with his mind
Messing with his life
Wanting what he has
For they were nothing without “it”
They were not gaining without “it”
Now, we see they are nothing
They never will be anything
They, who have no dreams
But create nightmares
Create fear for those talents
They are senseless
They are not America’s Promise
They are and always will be
Nothing.
Let’s sing for Michael
Let’s make Michael’s life
a Victory
Doing what he
Began
What he
fostered
which is
to Harmonize.
He was always wise beyond his years
He always faced Fear
Our tears can either tear our souls
or we can do what he would want
and that is – to believe
In our Being
And that our Journey
holds Meaning
to both God
and Man.
-annie
6/27/09
Annie says:

July 1, 2009 at 3:36 pm

One more comment, besides the poem I sent. Has anyone ever wondered why Michael Jackson wasn’t considered mildly autistic? He showed so many of the signs of autism. Was it to just add more hype to the false stories about the guy – who, by all rights, should have been richer than even Sir Paul McCartney – and I do love his singing, too, no doubt! Michael was taken advantage of and why couldn’t there be people to prevent this? Had they just identified that he was autistic, things would have run much smoother, I would surmise. Maybe I am wrong, but he meant no harm to anyone and in fact, wanted everyone to be nice to eachother. I regret not trying to send him letters, but was so sure they would never end up hitting his eyes, that is why. My pain is felt for the Jackson family and my prayers are with them. – annie
Word On The Street: One Week Later | says:

July 2, 2009 at 7:51 am

[…] Jeff Chang talks about his music […]
The Jester says:

July 3, 2009 at 9:39 pm

@Annie

MJ was by no means autistic. But, he was diagnosed as schizophrenic as a young child, which would explain the behavior you pointed out.

Also, its worth pointing out that the very first case of child molestation against MJ led him to take large amounts of pain killers and “anti anxiety medicine”, which he became slightly addicted to. The same medicines he was taking and was weened off from were the same medicines taken after his 2005 trial.

A number of things I think is what let MJ go: the constant media slander, his rising debt, the shady people who surrounded him, the fact he signed for 50 tours while only meaning to sign for 10, addiction to pain medicine, the list could go on even longer; all these things led to the destruction of Michael. Now, he’s just a regular person, not some sort of god; but, I believe we all (and the ruthless media) forgot he was just a regular person, and proceeded to destroy him as if he wasn’t real (as they do everyone now).

It’s sad; most of his fans and the black community turned their backs on him for his face disfigurement, or his skin color changes, or the molestation allegations. And now the very same media that hated Michael Jackson, told us to hate him, and tore him down is now the same media that has idolized him and has “recognizing his legacy” for the past week.

I’m glad the internet is starting to take the place of the news stations as our source of information, as we all were so quick to be misled, misguided, and controlled by a media that only seeks to torture celebrities to make us feel better through some guilty schadenfraude technique, and is slowly denigrating our society. With the internet, ideas and opinions are having free reign without the need of major media giants.

And its people like Jeff that make me excited to see a rise in this new media. Thank You.
Rona says:

July 7, 2009 at 4:25 pm

Thanks Jeff, beautifully written piece. Michael was as much a product of our twisted celebrity-obsessed culture as of his childhood (or lack thereof). My sentiments were similar in a post i wrote on my blog. RIP MJ, we’ll always love you.

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