Liberian Girl
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| "Liberian Girl" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Michael Jackson | ||||||||||
| from the album Bad | ||||||||||
| Released | July 3, 1989 | |||||||||
| Format | CD single, 12" | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||||||||
| Genre | R&B, adult contemporary | |||||||||
| Length | 3:53 (Album Version) 3:40 (Edit) 5:05 (12" edit) |
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| Label | Epic | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Michael Jackson | |||||||||
| Producer | Quincy Jones Michael Jackson (co-producer) |
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| Michael Jackson singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Liberian Girl" was the ninth single to be released from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. The song was written as early as 1983 and was among those considered for The Jacksons' Victory album. It was reworked and rewritten for Bad. The song was released as a single in Europe and Australia.
The song starts with the Swahili language phrase "Naku Penda pia, Naku Taka pia, Mpenziwe!" (I love you too, I want you too, my love!), which was sung by a South African singer by the name of Letta Mbulu (although Swahili is only commonly spoken on the opposite coast of Africa).
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[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 50 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 14 |
| French Singles Chart | 15 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 12[1] |
| UK Singles Chart | 13 |
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
| French Digital Singles Chart | 34[2] |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 36[1] |
| UK Singles Chart | 86[3] |
[edit] Music video
Directed by Jim Yukich, the video for the song featured many of Jackson's celebrity friends who wait on the set to film the music video for "Liberian Girl", only to discover he was filming them all along. As named in the closing titles, featured in the video are:
- Beverly Johnson
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner
- Sherman Hemsley
- Brigitte Nielsen
- Paula Abdul
- Carl Weathers
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Quincy Jones
- Jackie Collins
- Amy Irving
- Jasmine Guy
- Rosanna Arquette
- Lou Diamond Phillips
- Olivia Newton-John
- John Travolta
- Corey Feldman
- Steven Spielberg
- Debbie Gibson
- Rick Schroder
- Blair Underwood
- "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Bubbles
- Suzanne Somers
- Lou Ferrigno
- Don King and "Son"
- Mayim Bialik
- Virginia Madsen
- David Copperfield
- Billy Dee Williams
- Richard and Emily Dreyfuss
- Danny Glover
- Olivia Hussey
- Dan Aykroyd
- Steve Guttenberg
The music video of the song was included on the video albums: HIStory on Film, Volume II and Vision.
[edit] Track listing
- 7"
- Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
- Girlfriend - 3:05
- 12"
- Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
- Get on the Floor - 4:44
- Girlfriend - 3:05
- CD Single:
- Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
- Girlfriend - 3:05
- The Lady In My Life - 5:00
- Get On The Floor - 4:44
- Unreleased DualDisc
CD Side:
- "Liberian Girl" - 3:40
DVD Side:
- "Liberian Girl (Edit)" (Audio)
- "Liberian Girl" (Video)
[edit] Covers and sampling
"Liberian Girl" has been sampled and covered by various musicians:
- In 1990, Chicago-based jazz musician Chico Freeman recorded an instrumental jazz version for his album You'll Know When You Get There.[4]
- In 1996, hip hop artist MC Lyte sampled the song on "Keep On, Keepin' On" featuring R&B group Xscape. The song released first on the soundtrack for Sunset Park and later on MC Lyte's fifth album Bad As I Wanna B.[5]
- In 1999, American singer Jennifer Lopez's song "If You Had My Love" contains a sample from "Liberian Girl" only on a remix called 'Dark Child Master Mix'[6]
- In 2001, the song was sampled on the late American rapper 2Pac's songs "Letter 2 My Unborn",[7] on his fourth posthumous album Until the End of Time and "The Thug in Me" (Original Version).[8]
- In 2007, Canadian rapper Roi Heenok sampled the song on his track "La Coka Coka", in French and released on his album Cocaïno Rap Musique: Volume 1.[9]
[edit] Personnel
- Written and composed by Michael Jackson
- Produced by Quincy Jones
- Co-Produced by Michael Jackson
- Michael Jackson: Solo and background vocals
- John Robinson: Drums
- Douglas Getschal: Drum programming
- Paulinho Da Costa: Percussion
- Christopher Currell: Synclavier
- John Barnes, Michael Boddicker, David Paich, Larry Williams: Synthesizers
- Steve Porcaro: Synthesizer programming
- Letta Mbulu: Swahili chant
- Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson, John Barnes and Quincy Jones
- Synthesizer arrangement by Jerry Hey, John Barnes and Quincy Jones
- Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and John Barnes
- Swahili chant arrangement by Caiphus Semenya
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Michael+Jackson&titel=Liberian+Girl&cat=s. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
- ^ "Download French Single Top 50". France. lescharts. http://lescharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=si&year=2009&date=20090627. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
- ^ "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/top40_singles.php. Retrieved 6 July 2009.[dead link]
- ^ AllMusic http://www.allmusic.com/album/r166068
- ^ WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/791/MC%20Lyte%20feat.%20Xscape-Keep%20On,%20Keepin%27%20On_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/
- ^ WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/9394/Jennifer%20Lopez-If%20You%20Had%20My%20Love%20%28Darkchild%20Master%20Mix%29_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/
- ^ WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/731/2Pac-Letter%202%20My%20Unborn_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/
- ^ About.com http://rap.about.com/od/songs/tp/RapSongsSampledMichaelJackson.htm
- ^ WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/14310/Roi%20Heenok-La%20Coka%20Coka_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/
[edit] External links
- Official video on a website from Sony BMG
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