Can I tell you how much I love "Thriller," by Michael Jackson? This was actually the last single off the album "Thriller." It had a few titles before it became what it was. Like many good things, the proper title arrived as a sudden bolt of inspiration for the writer (who was not Michael Jackson).
I am obsessed with stories and with holidays. When I was a child, my father would look at me with concern and say, "Do you think you live in a storybook?" The answer was yes. My stated ambition was to become a Wuzzle, which was something like a Care Bear. That's what I imagined my career could be.
As a teacher, long past the burn-out date, I kept myself going by having my reading groups design holiday cards. December 1st (or even late November): Time to think about Santa Claus! September 15? Time for ghouls and goblins...
"Thriller" isn't "Anna Karenina," but someone did take time to craft sentences here. Look closely. Using anthropomorphic language: "You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it." "You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between your eyes." (Wouldn't horror look you in the eyes? This writer has an odd and memorable relationship with prepositions. Evil does not lurk "in" the dark; apparently, evil lurks "from" the dark.)
I love--also--the way the nemesis morphs throughout the song. Sometimes, it's a creature. At other times, it's a "thing with forty eyes." It's the "alien with jaws." It's "the beast." This writer simply had fun with his work.
There's also fun with the verb "thrill." Generally, it refers to the emotions provoked by, say, "Candyman." But there's also a sexual thrill: "Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul would ever dare try." Sex and terror--linked. As they are in any good scary movie, such as "Scream," "Nightmare on Elm Street," "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
The voice-over terrified me in childhood, but it's actually a bit silly. If you don't have the "soul for getting down," then you will "rot inside a corpse's shell." In other words, apparently, you can dodge the terrors of Halloween simply by dancing. Who knew?
In my childhood, my parents would set up speakers behind the front bushes on Halloween. They would sometimes play "Purple People Eater," sometimes "Monster Mash," sometimes that creepy organ music that you know simply by reading the phrase "creepy organ music." But all of this paled in comparison with "Thriller." That one MJ song had a level of exuberance and attention to detail and creepiness that no other October song could match. (It's fitting that the annual popularity and financial success of "Thriller" are paralleled by only one other pop song--and you can guess it. It's Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas Is You.")
I'm so excited--right now--for "The Nun," the "Halloween" update, and even for the Jack Black adaptation of "House with a Clock in Its Walls." You think your life is a storybook. Guilty as charged! It's the most wonderful time of the year....
P.S. I can't help but notice that the experience of being persecuted/hounded is a theme in several major MJ songs. "Dirty Diana," "Thriller," "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal." Just an observation. And I'm intrigued that MJ collaborated with both Scorsese and Coppola. More later.
I am obsessed with stories and with holidays. When I was a child, my father would look at me with concern and say, "Do you think you live in a storybook?" The answer was yes. My stated ambition was to become a Wuzzle, which was something like a Care Bear. That's what I imagined my career could be.
As a teacher, long past the burn-out date, I kept myself going by having my reading groups design holiday cards. December 1st (or even late November): Time to think about Santa Claus! September 15? Time for ghouls and goblins...
"Thriller" isn't "Anna Karenina," but someone did take time to craft sentences here. Look closely. Using anthropomorphic language: "You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it." "You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between your eyes." (Wouldn't horror look you in the eyes? This writer has an odd and memorable relationship with prepositions. Evil does not lurk "in" the dark; apparently, evil lurks "from" the dark.)
I love--also--the way the nemesis morphs throughout the song. Sometimes, it's a creature. At other times, it's a "thing with forty eyes." It's the "alien with jaws." It's "the beast." This writer simply had fun with his work.
There's also fun with the verb "thrill." Generally, it refers to the emotions provoked by, say, "Candyman." But there's also a sexual thrill: "Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul would ever dare try." Sex and terror--linked. As they are in any good scary movie, such as "Scream," "Nightmare on Elm Street," "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
The voice-over terrified me in childhood, but it's actually a bit silly. If you don't have the "soul for getting down," then you will "rot inside a corpse's shell." In other words, apparently, you can dodge the terrors of Halloween simply by dancing. Who knew?
In my childhood, my parents would set up speakers behind the front bushes on Halloween. They would sometimes play "Purple People Eater," sometimes "Monster Mash," sometimes that creepy organ music that you know simply by reading the phrase "creepy organ music." But all of this paled in comparison with "Thriller." That one MJ song had a level of exuberance and attention to detail and creepiness that no other October song could match. (It's fitting that the annual popularity and financial success of "Thriller" are paralleled by only one other pop song--and you can guess it. It's Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas Is You.")
I'm so excited--right now--for "The Nun," the "Halloween" update, and even for the Jack Black adaptation of "House with a Clock in Its Walls." You think your life is a storybook. Guilty as charged! It's the most wonderful time of the year....
P.S. I can't help but notice that the experience of being persecuted/hounded is a theme in several major MJ songs. "Dirty Diana," "Thriller," "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal." Just an observation. And I'm intrigued that MJ collaborated with both Scorsese and Coppola. More later.
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