Q: Did Michael Jackson write the lyrics to most of his music? How involved was he in the production of his records? Did he ever play any musical instruments? In general, how deep was his musical acumen?
迈克尔·杰克逊的大部分歌曲都是他写的歌词吗?他是如何参与制作他的唱片的?他曾经演奏过乐器吗?总的来说，他的音乐才能有多深?
He wrote more as time went on. I suspect that he was quite involved in production of his music after Off The Wall. I think he knew how to play the guitar but didn't do it much. With all he learned at Motown and beyond, I would say he had strong musical knowledge.
随着时间的推移，他写得越来越多。我想他在《Off The Wall》之后完全参与了他的音乐制作。我认为他知道怎么弹吉他，但不怎么弹。从他在摩城和其他地方学到的东西来看，我会说他有很强的音乐知识。
——David Nathan 音乐记者兼历史学家，www.soulmusic.com 的创始人，曾是英国Blues & Soul 杂志的美国编辑，采访过MJ并在2000年与他一对一会面。

"Don't Be Messin'" illustrates this concept well. In the track, we can hear Jackson giving instructions, vocally dictating instrumental parts, mapping out where to accent words or add percussion, scatting and ad-libbing many of the unfinished lyrics. "One of the main intentions is to show that these are works in progress," says Matt Forger, a sound engineer and longtime Jackson friend and collaborator. "To pull the curtain back. To actually see Michael in his natural work environment, how he directs, his sense of humor, his focus."
《Don't Be Messin'》很好地说明了这个概念。在这首歌中，我们可以听到杰克逊给出指导，用声音安排器乐部分，标出重音词的位置，或添加打击乐器，即兴哼唱许多未完成的歌词。“主要意图之一是表明这些工作正在进行中，”录音师、杰克逊的老朋友和长期合作者Matt Forger说，“拉开窗帘，能真正看到迈克尔在他自然的工作环境中，他如何指导，他的幽默感，他的专注。”
The finished product, then, is intentionally unfinished and spontaneous. "You can just hear him having fun," Forger says. "His spirit and emotion are totally there. He knew in demos he didn't have to be totally perfect in his execution. So he'd be loose. He'd throw in ad libs and dance or sing or pop his fingers or clap his hands. You just hear him enjoying himself."
因此，成品是有意未完成并且自然的。“你能听出他玩得很开心，”Forger说。“他的精神和情感完全在那里。他知道在demo中，不需要完全完美的执行。所以他会放松。他会即兴表现，跳舞、唱歌、弹响指、拍手。你只是听到他很享受这个过程。”

Jackson first wrote and recorded "Don't Be Messin'" during the Thriller sessions with engineer Brent Averill. Around this time he was working on a variety of musical ideas, including demos of "P.Y.T." and "Billie Jean." "Don't Be Messin'" features Jackson himself playing piano ("He could do more than he ever really let people know," Forger says.) He also produced, arranged, and guided many of the instrumental parts, including the cinematic strings, Jonathan Maxey's piano part in the bridge, and David Williams funky guitar licks.
杰克逊是在与录音师Brent Averill合作《Thriller》期间首次创作并录制了《Don’t Be Messin’》这首歌。大约在这个时候，他致力于各种各样的音乐灵感，包括《P.Y.T.》和《Billie Jean》的demo。《Don’t Be Messin’》的特色是杰克逊自己弹奏了钢琴(“他能做的比他真正让人们知道的还要多，”Forger说。)他还制作、安排和指导了许多器乐部分，包括电影弦乐，Jonathan Maxey在桥接处的钢琴部分和David Williams的funky吉他乐句。
Ultimately, since "Don't Be Messin'" wasn't fully developed and so much other strong material was coming in for Thriller, Jackson decided to put the song on the back burner, having in mind to revisit it for his next album. "That was kind of how Michael developed ideas and songs," explains Forger. "He let the song unfold in its own time. Sometimes a song wasn't ready or didn't quite fit the character of an album or a project and it would stay in the vaults. And then at a certain point of time, he would pull it out again."
最终，因为《Don't Be Messin》还没有得到充分的发展，并且《Thriller》中还有很多其他强有力的素材，杰克逊决定暂且搁置这首歌，并打算在他的下一张专辑中重新审视它。“这就是迈克尔发展灵感和歌曲的方式，”Forger解释说，“他让歌曲在合适的时间开展。有时候，一首歌还没准备好，或者不太符合专辑或项目的特点，它就会被留在储藏室里。然后在某个时间点，他又会把它拿出来。”
——JOSEPH VOGEL《The Story Behind Michael Jackson's Infectious, Newly Released Song》

One of the most interesting and revealing interviews about the way Jackson crafted his work is the audio from the ‘Dangerous’ court case. Songwriter Crystal Cartier took him to court for plagiarism and during the trial Jackson was asked to describe his song-writing process. “I’ll just sing the bass part into the tape recorder,” he said between snips of sung melody, totally pitch perfect. “I’ll take that bass lick and put the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that’s what inspires the melody,” he explained, before beat-boxing in court.
关于杰克逊创作作品的方式，最有趣、最具启发性的采访之一是“危险”法庭案件的录音。歌曲作家Crystal Cartier以抄袭罪将杰克逊告上法庭，在审判期间，杰克逊被要求描述他的歌曲创作过程。“我会对着录音机唱出贝斯部分，”他边唱出旋律片段边说，是完全完美的音调。“我会采用那段贝斯乐句，把旋律的和弦加在贝斯乐句上，这就是旋律的灵感来源，”他在法庭上beatbox之前解释道。

On Billie Jean he says: “Listen, you’re hearing four basses on there, doing four different personalities, and that’s what gives it character, but it takes a lot of work.” At this point he had written a couple of hundred songs and said he’d usually be working on five songs at any one time.
关于《Billie Jean》，他说：“听着，你在这里听到的是四个bass，在演绎四种不同的特征，这就是赋予它个性的原因，但这需要花很多功夫。”当时他已经写了几百首歌，并说他通常能在任何时候创作五首歌。
Here’s another example of Jackson’s ability to beatbox to show how he created ‘Tabloid Junkie’. It’s from an interview with Diane Sawyer in 1995 (h/t MJ World) and you won’t believe the sound’s made by man not machine.
这是另一个通过beatbox的能力来展示他如何创作出《Tabloid Junkie》的例子。来自1995年Diane Sawyer的一次采访，你不会相信这声音是由人而不是机器发出的。

Of course, you don’t need to be formally trained in music to be a successful artist. Paul McCartney has sold over 100 million records without learning how to notate. There are loads of ways musicians have found inventive methods to write songs without being able to actually pen down the chords – or if they just fancied going off the traditional path. You’ve got John Lennon assembling 10 people with pencils used to loop different sonic elements for ‘Revolution 9’.
当然，你不需要经过正规的音乐训练就能成为一个成功的艺术家。保罗·麦卡特尼(Paul McCartney)在不知道如何记谱的情况下就卖出了超过1亿张唱片。音乐家们找到了很多有创意的方式来创作歌曲，不需要能够真正写下和弦，或者他们只是想走违背传统的道路。约翰·列侬集合了10个拿着铅笔的人，被用来在《Revolution 9》中循环不同的声音元素。

Ian McCulloch wrote ‘The Killing Moon’ by inverting the chords to David Bowie ‘Space Oddity’ and Goldie basically draws his tracks, using weird diagrams and squares and squiggles to write – watch this episode of Producers House, it’s amazing.
Ian McCulloch将David Bowie的《Space Oddity》的和弦倒置，从而创作了《The Killing Moon》。Goldie基本上是在画自己的歌曲，用奇怪的图表、方块和曲线来写歌——看这一集的《制作人之家》(producer House)，这太不可思议了。
Jackson created some of the greatest pop anthems of all time. As anyone who’s tried to write a song will know, it’s pretty damn hard, even if you have some grasp of chords. That he managed so amazingly without only adds to the sense that what MJ had was a special, special gift.
杰克逊创作了一些有史以来最伟大的流行歌曲。任何一个尝试过写歌的人都会知道，即使你对和声有一定的把握，这也很难。他如此令人惊讶地做到了，而不只是让人感觉到他拥有一种特别的、特殊的天赋。
——《NME》The Incredible Way Michael Jackson Wrote Music

第三张好帅，MJ小时候经常戴各种首饰~

又找到一个好东西~
1972年8月20日，洛杉矶时报对14岁的迈克尔·杰克逊做了专题报道。目的是为了推广在8月26日即将在好莱坞露天音乐厅举行的J5演唱会。
时间：1972年8月20日
采访者：Los Angeles Times Kathy Orloff
受访者：Michael Jackson

摘录：
And he doesn't like to sit still and simply answer questions, especially when he feels he can get it all said at the piano.
他不喜欢一动不动地坐在那儿回答问题，尤其是，当他感觉可以用钢琴表达所有感受的时候。
His favorite place in the house is the garage, now a curtained rehearsal hall crowded with instruments and microphones and the accessories of performance. He putters around there, and in the corner at the upright, takes his piano lessons.
在家里，他最喜欢的地方是由车库改建而成、挂有帘幕的排练厅。这里摆满了乐器、麦克风以及其他的舞台表演设备。他没事就会来这儿闲逛，在墙角放着一架立式钢琴，那是他上钢琴课的地方。

"I'd like to be a good piano player."he says, "I've playing by ear and now I'm learning the notes, when you know the notes, you learn faster. I never though about having lessons, I used to borrow the neighbor's piano."
“我想成为一名优秀的钢琴演奏者，”他说，“以前我都是靠耳朵弹奏，现在正在学习识谱。当你掌握了音符，就能学得更快。我从来没想过要上课，过去我都是借用邻居的钢琴。”
"Hey, "he asks, "You ever heard this song? It's a Elton John thing that was on the radio for only a day or two, then it was gone. Bet you never heard it." And without knowing the notes, he sit and plays, tromping on the loud pedal like a grapevine trucker wailing on the clutch and never losing a gear. MJ gets there on time and in tune, right at home.
“嘿，”他问道，“你听过这首歌吗？这是一首Elton John的歌曲，收音机只播过一两天就没有了。我打赌你从没听过。”说着，在没有乐谱的情况下，他坐在钢琴前，踏着强音踏板开始弹奏，就象传说中的卡车司机踩着离合器鸣笛，而且从不脱档。就这样，就在家里，MJ一拍不漏一调不失地弹奏完了整首歌。

这两个在迈吧看到的说法我没有找到英文原文：
MJ“Bad”和“Dangerous”巡演中的吉他手Jennifer Batten告诉一位荷兰俱乐部的成员，MJ可以演奏流行音乐中的所有乐器，包括鼓、打击乐器、键盘、钢琴、吉他和贝斯。MJ还在History专辑中进行了键盘、合成器、鼓、打击乐器和吉他的演出。 MJ还在Blood On The Dance Floor专辑中演奏，包括打击乐器、吉他、贝斯、键盘......并且参加了制作，编辑等等工作。
《MJ VISUAL DOCUMENTARY》的作者ADIAN GRANT （与MJ经常接触，亲历过MJ录制DANGROUS以及HISTORY过程的FAN，他也曾是英国官方FANS CLUB的负责人）在书的后记中强调过的段落中发现的。他说MJ虽然非常精通键盘和架子鼓，但他不在意是否让自己的名字占据幕后工作人员表单的空间 ，他只希望让世界最棒的人干。

想知道为什么某些楼层会被折叠？