Michael Jackson - Earth Song

Lying in my new (!) queen-size bed (what a difference a bed makes...), clothed in my limited edition (boo-ya!) 'This Is It' MJ-da-movie tee and reflecting on the past four days worth of hecticism (a word, for the record, that I coined just now), this track of all those so spectacularly brought to screen in the short-run cinema release whose premier J and I were just privy to stands out most in my mind. Whilst the saccharine [official] posthumous single released concurrently with the film; 'This Is It' seems forever lodged in my cranial compound (possibly something to do with a semiotic association with the film by the same name which I've been raving about since I stepped out of the cinema and onto George street), it is Earth Song that best represents the enduring legacy of the begloved one.

Evidently, it has been some time since I raved about the virtues of the enigmatic Hathbanger and his subject-of-the-week, Miley Cyrus. I've spent the last few days couped up in the subterranean confines of my university. In the meantime, dirty/clean/unknown washing heaps in piles across my carpet, cockroaches run riot on the one remaining Toblerone piece standing (the 'N' if you must know) following innumerable midnight snacks, my loving family have become distant aliens to me and I have begun to see a Final Cut Pro timeline indelibly superimposed on my vision such that I now swerve erratically across four or five lanes of traffic to avoid cross-fades and slugs that aren't actually there. In my current, delirious and yet deliriously relieved state, I would like to thank J for holding down the OAD fort so admirably. I only hope that if/when you experience a like video-production-induced mid-life crisis, I am there to aid you as swiftly as you have come to my assistance. Amen.

Back to the cinema where T-Pain (young money, baby!) was sitting in the row in front of us, yelping and wooping it up as MJ strutted his way through Smooth Criminal, Billy Jean, Man In The Mirror and Beat It. Once my quickened heartbeat stopped pounding in my ears and the knowledge that my favourite vocoder was in the same room as me faded to a dim memory, I was able to focus on the film and the brilliance of the man and the entertainer. Granted, he held some pretty left-field views and the delivery of certain lines during the film ('We only have four years before the damage to the planet is irreversible') smacked of esotericism, there is no denying the drive and the innate love for humankind the Jackson so obviously had. The film was not only a triumph in humanizing the celebrity but, on a more personal level, served as a reminder that there are more valuable things in life then the perfect jump-cut, the most radical scrolling title. Life goes on. We have MJ to thank.

Michael Jackson - Earth Song