Warm spring day on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. Dude rolls
by on a big Harley. He's African-American, muscular, and dressed
entirely in black, down to the mirrored shades and gleaming
helmet. The motorcycle is black and glossy too. It has powerful
speakers, and the music's pumping. A rumbling sampled voice
is chanting "mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-coo-sa" over
a laid-back, blunted hip-hop beat. It takes me a second to
identify the singer as Michael Jackson, digitally pitch-shifted
down into Barry White's register. Unfortunately, the guy rides
away before I have a chance to ask him who's responsible for
this work of memetic genius. I can't find it on the web. Does
anyone know?
Anyway, it made me think of the original Michael Jackson
tune, and what an amazing tune it is, too, one I've overlooked
because it's sitting in the shadow of Thriller and Billie
Jean.
I heard WBSS most recently on one of the in-game radio stations
in Grand
Theft Auto: Vice City. Its frequent ironic usage in pop
culture has distracted me from my original relationship with
this s0ng, the one I developed as a kid when Thriller first
came out. I remember hearing WBSS in the third grade and thinking,
I really like this beat and this melody, but there's something
in the lyrics that creeps me the heck out. I couldn't identify
it then, but I can now: Michael Jackson is an extremely angry
and unhappy person, a victim of severe abuse and material
privation during his formative years. Now we're all familiar
with the long-term psychological consequences of his difficult
upbringing, but back then, who knew or cared about MJ's inner
life?
Well, this listener, for one. I love MJ's music as much as
any thinking and feeling person with ears does. But I got
a very dark and scary vibe off him as a kid, an instinct that
turned out to be prescient. Unlike most pop singers, MJ writes
a lot of his own material, including the song in question.
Imagine if you'd never heard WBSS and had no idea who it was
by, or any other information about its cultural context. If
you read the lyrics, what would you think this piece of music's
overall sound was? I'd have guessed something like Rage Against
The Machine or Nine Inch Nails. Never in a million years would
I have suspected it to be a peppy dancefloor mover, much less
one of the great dancefloor movers of all time.
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
I took my baby to the doctor
With a fever, but nothing he found
By the time this hit the street
They said she had a breakdown
Someone's always tryin'
to start my baby cryin'
Talkin', squealin', lyin'
Sayin' you just wanna be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
You love to pretend that you're good
When you're always up to no good
You really can't make him hate her
So your tongue became a razor
Someone's always tryin'
to keep my baby cryin'
Treacherous, cunnin', declinin'
You got my baby cryin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable
Still they hate you, you're a vegetable
You're just a buffet, you're a vegetable
They eat off of you, you're a vegetable [!]
Billie Jean is always talkin'
When nobody else is talkin'
Tellin' lies and rubbin' shoulders
So they called her mouth a motor
Someone's always tryin'
to start my baby cryin'
Talkin', squealin', spyin'
Sayin' you just wanna be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable
Still they hate you, you're a vegetable [!!]
You're just a buffet, you're a vegetable
They eat off of you, you're a vegetable
If you can't feed your baby (yeah, yeah)
Then don't have a baby (yeah, yeah)
And don't think maybe (yeah, yeah)
If you can't feed your baby (yeah, yeah) [!!!]
You'll be always tryin'
To stop that child from cryin'
Hustlin', stealin', lyin'
Now baby's slowly dyin' [!!!!]
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
Lift your head up high
And scream out to the world
I know I am someone
And let the truth unfurl
No one can hurt you now
Because you know what's true
Yes, I believe in me
So you believe in you
Help me sing it, ma ma se,
Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa
Ma ma se, ma ma sa,
Ma ma coo sa
The song has a strongly African feel, especially in that
chant at the end. Speaking of people in the world who experience
a lot of hardship and privation, and who use music and dance
to make their existences bearable. The famous chant is said
to have been inspired by a record from the seventies called
Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango. Judge
for yourself, courtesy of this French guy's blog.
And speaking of people who transform unhappy inner lives
into joyful dance music: Björk segued from her song I
Go Humble into WBSM on her Homogenic tour, you can hear it
on the highly recommended live box set.
