I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled The World Outside: Louise Nevelson at Midcentury — a retrospective of the Modernist artist-sculptor (born near Kyiv) opens at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine on February 8th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by the American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson, that Bibi Netanyahu has become what Joe Manchin has been for Joe Biden.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Maggie the Cat— who seems to have a knack for interfering at the town offices of Bennington, Vermont.
SPORTING NOTES— the head of soccer’s world governing body has threatened to have European teams whose fans make loud racist chants towards opposing team players of color now face forfeits, instead of just announcements and ejecting individual offenders.
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS….
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay by the indispensable Amanda Marcotte (whose Salon essays are must-reads) — this time, she cites MAGA men who can't handle an accusation of insecurity … without immediately proving it to be true.
A NOTE ON TODAY’s POLL— tempted as I am to include the $83 Million Dollar Man— I am holding off, as we are awaiting both Judge Engoron’s verdict in the financial fraud case as well as a court ruling in the “immunity” question. Quite possibly, this coming week. Rest assured, this will soon appear in a MAGA poll.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Blueberry the Cat— an Alabama kitteh suffering at a veterinary clinic during an ice storm — leading a vet to walk the three miles to perform life-saving surgery.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a career retrospective of the recently deceased CBS newsman Charles Osgood— who in 1994 was the perfect successor to CBS Sunday Morning’s founder Charles Kuralt — and whose poignant radio commentaries had already made a fan out of me. He was the sole focus of a tribute on this morning’s show (here are YouTube links).
FATHER-SON?— veteran pundit Howard Fineman and Speaker Mike Johnson.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… time once again my enemy … so here is a reprise of a profile from a few years back. And it’s my favorite variety: a great back-story.
With Michael Jackson’s album Thriller— in the 80’s, one heard it constantly (seven of its nine tracks made the Top Ten) and the law-of-diminishing-returns definitely applied. Still, I must acknowledge this landmark album had its reasons, even if it wasn’t for me.
With one exception: one of the lesser-played tunes on the album was Human Nature - a ballad that I loved from the start; leading one reviewer to say that it "set down a blueprint for what would become known as Adult R&B". Later, when one of my jazz heroes covered it I truly felt my initial hunch was correct. And, come-to-find-out that it has an interesting genesis ... let's have a look at it.
This song was (essentially) written by the keyboard player Steve Porcaro - one of the three Porcaro brothers who performed in the band Toto. Interesting, too, because Toto was not a band I cared for, either - I mean, "Hold the line .... love isn't always on time"… just didn't cut it. In time, I came to appreciate the talent the band members had ... it was their choice of material that left me flat.
The Porcaro brothers were the sons of the veteran drummer Joe Porcaro (who died in 2020 at the age of ninety) and following the break-up of Toto in 1986, Steve Porcaro has dedicated himself to being a session musician and composer. In recent years, this keyboardist has included both film scores as well as the soundtrack to the TV program Justified on on the FX network and has won three Grammy Awards in his career.
Mention should be made of Steve's brother Jeff Porcaro - the drummer on this song (plus three other tracks on Thriller) and also, as William Ruhlmann of the All-Music Guide wrote, "was arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s". Jeff Porcaro recorded with Steely Dan, Seals & Crofts, Boz Scaggs, Barbra Streisand, Warren Zevon, Rickie Lee Jones, Pink Floyd, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Don Henley, Randy Newman, Lionel Richie, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Dire Straits and Bonnie Raitt for starters .. and often on their magnum-opus recordings. Jeff Porcaro died in 1992 at age 38 under mysterious circumstances: his bandmates insist it was due to an allergic reaction to pesticide use at his home, but the coroner's report attributed it to hardening of the arteries caused by cocaine use. (The third brother, Mike, died in 2015).
Mention should also be made of the legendary musician/producer Quincy Jones - whose sterling career is beyond compare, yet if he had done nothing else but produce Thriller: its eight Grammys would have ensured his place in history. And he is still at work running his own production company at age ninety.
Steve Porcaro explains how Human Nature came to be:
I had written the song for my daughter Heather. Something had happened at school and it just inspired me. I wrote the song while we were mixing (Toto's song) Africa and was just tinkering on the piano and wrote Human Nature. I had written the lyrics, which were the same verse I was singing over and over again. I had the "why, why" chorus with the slap echo. Like most of my songs, it was an unfinished song.
During the recording of Thriller, Steve Porcaro and bandmate David Paich were assisting Quincy Jones; adding some synthesizer work and production help. Then, an amazing twist of fate took place, according to Steve Porcaro:
Quincy had been asking David for songs and he was sending a messenger almost every day to David's house - where I was living at the time - to pick up anything David was working on. One time, (David) had gotten a call that the messenger was on his way and he called down to me and told me to throw something we'd been working on onto a cassette.I didn't have any blank cassettes, so I took a cassette that had Human Nature on one side and turned the B-side over, rewound it and put on these two songs of David's and then gave them to the messenger.
Quincy Jones didn't much rate the two intended songs ..... but turned the cassette over and was truly delighted with Steve Porcaro's song ... that had not intended to be given to Quincy Jonesin the first place.
Said Porcaro, "It took David half an hour to tell Quincy that it wasn't his song!" ... but Quincy Jones noted the incomplete lyrics, asking Porcaro to complete them.
I forced myself to write the lyrics and Quincy was less than thrilled with them (so) he asked me if I would mind if he brought-in John Bettis to finish them. I was completely thrilled with what John did with the lyrics.
And this would be the John Bettis… who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with his co-written songs performed by George Strait, Celine Dion, Madonna, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Karen Carpenter and others.
Bettis wrote the lyrics virtually overnight. The two composers (Bettis and Porcaro) then took the song to the studio the next day, meeting with Jones and Jackson."We just literally sang the song for them and gave them the lyric sheets," Bettis said, calling Jackson an "immense" spirit. "Luckily, they embraced it immediately." Jackson, he said, told him in an aside that the song was "perfect" for him.
The song eventually reached #7 in the pop charts, and it was later recorded by Stevie Wonder, Chris Brown and John Mayer.
Then, two years later, the trumpet legend Miles Davis decided to record an instrumental version of it on his 1985 album You're Under Arrest - along with Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" (which was also a song I loved from a performer who wasn't normally my cup-of-tea). And Miles featured both tunes in his repertoire during the remaining six years of his life.
Steve Porcaro concludes:
My father was a jazz musician and when I was growing up, most of the music we heard in our household was classical music and jazz - Miles Davis. He was my father's hero. Miles Davis was ingrained in all of us, so I was completely thrilled. I was so honored.I remember doing a session with the bassist Neil Stubenhaus about six months after Miles did You're Under Arrest. He just cornered me and said "Do you realize how great it is to have Miles do one of your tunes? Do you have any idea what it means?"
I certainly did. It's one of the things I'm most proud of out of everything I've done.
With that background: here is the Michael Jackson (vocal) version of the Steve Porcaro/John Bettis accidental hit (with the cover by Miles Davis at this link).
Looking out Across the nighttime The city winks a sleepless eye Hear her voice Shake my window Sweet seducing sighsGet me out Into the nighttime Four walls won't hold me tonight If this town Is just an apple Then let me take a bite
Looking out Across the morning Where the city's heart begins to beat Reaching out I touch her shoulder I'm dreaming of the street
If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why, does he do it that way