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Leave Me Alone (Michael Jackson song)

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For other uses, see Leave Me Alone (disambiguation).
"Leave Me Alone"
Song

"Leave Me Alone" was the eighth single to be released from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. It only appeared on the CD versions of the album as a bonus track [1] and was not issued as a single in the United States. The song was also featured as a segment in Jackson's 1988 fantasy movie Moonwalker and charted at #1 in the UK's New Musical Express. The song was re-released on April 17, 2006 as part of the Visionary: The Video Singles set.

On the official Radio One UK chart, the song peaked at number two, held from the top spot by "Belfast Child" from Simple Minds and was the 44th best-selling single of 1989 in the UK. However, the song peaked at number one in Ireland.[2]

Despite the success of the single, this song never appeared on any of Jackson's world tours.


Track listing

Original release

7" single
  1. "Leave Me Alone" – 4:40
  2. "Human Nature" – 4:05
12" single
  1. "Leave Me Alone" – 4:40
  2. "Human Nature" – 4:05
  3. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" – 6:04

Visionary single

CD side
  1. "Leave Me Alone" (Album version) - 4:40
  2. "Another Part of Me" (Extended Dance Mix) - 6:18
DVD side
  1. "Leave Me Alone" (Music video)

Chart performance

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 37
Austrian Singles Chart 15
Dutch Top 40 5
French Singles Chart 17
Irish Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 8
Norwegian Singles Chart 6
Spanish Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart 19
Swiss Singles Chart 10
UK Singles Chart 2
Chart (2009) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 66

Music video

The music video for "Leave Me Alone", directed by Jim Blashfield, won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the Grammy Awards of 1990. The video was also featured in Moonwalker. In essence, the video is an amusement park consisting of stylistically crude images based around Jackson's successful career since 1982's Thriller. There is an emphasis on the tabloid view of Jackson's personal life and public image, referring to the nickname "Wacko Jacko" given to him by the press, and the various headlines associated with him in the 1980s. Lampooning rumours that he tried to purchase the "Elephant Man's" bones, Jackson dances with stop motion "Elephant Man" bones in the video. This particular segment (without the image of the bones) was used for the single's cover art, and the boneless video segment was featured in Moonwalker trailer. In the video, there are images of shrines to Elizabeth Taylor, a close friend of Jackson. At the end of the video, it is revealed that a gigantic Jackson himself is the amusement park. He breaks free, tearing the park to pieces. That scene is somewhat reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels, where Gulliver eventually breaks free from the tiny peoples grasp from Tiny Island.

Credits

  • Written and composed by Michael Jackson
  • Solo and background vocals and vocal synthesizer: Michael Jackson
  • Drum programming and synthesizers: Larry Williams
  • Guitar: Paul Jackson, Jr.
  • Synclavier and synthesizer programming: Casey Young
  • Synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes
  • Rhythm and vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson

References

  1. ^ Leave Me Alone Songfacts
  2. ^ http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement
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