Liberian Girl

"Liberian Girl"
"Liberian Girl"
Song

"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 the official language of Liberia is English, and Swahili is only commonly spoken on the opposite coast of Africa). '

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]

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:

The music video of the song was included on the video albums: HIStory on Film, Volume II and Vision.

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)

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]

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

References

^ ^a ^b "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
^ "Download French Single Top 50". France. lescharts. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
^ "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 July 2009. ^{[dead link]}
^ AllMusic https://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/

External links

Official video on a website from Sony BMG

[switzerland-1] "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved July 18, 2009.

[2] "Download French Single Top 50". France. lescharts. Retrieved 2009-12-31.

[3] "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 July 2009. ^{[dead link]}

[4] AllMusic https://www.allmusic.com/album/r166068]]

[5] WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/791/MC%20Lyte%20feat.%20Xscape-Keep%20On,%20Keepin%27%20On_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/

[6] WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/9394/Jennifer%20Lopez-If%20You%20Had%20My%20Love%20%28Darkchild%20Master%20Mix%29_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/

[7] WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/731/2Pac-Letter%202%20My%20Unborn_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/

[8] About.com http://rap.about.com/od/songs/tp/RapSongsSampledMichaelJackson.htm

[9] WhoSampled http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/14310/Roi%20Heenok-La%20Coka%20Coka_Michael%20Jackson-Liberian%20Girl/

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v t e Michael Jackson songs
Singles Songs Unreleased songs
1970s	"Got to Be There" "Ain't No Sunshine" "I Wanna Be Where You Are" "Rockin' Robin" "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" "You've Got a Friend" "Ben" "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" "My Girl" "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" "We've Got a Good Thing Going" "With a Child's Heart" "Morning Glow" "All the Things You Are" "Happy" "Too Young" "Music and Me" "We're Almost There" "Just a Little Bit of You" "You Can't Win" "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" "Rock with You" "Working Day and Night" "It's the Falling in Love"
1980s	"Off the Wall" "Girlfriend" "She's Out of My Life" "One Day in Your Life" "The Girl Is Mine" "Billie Jean" "Beat It" "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" "Human Nature" "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" "Thriller" "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" "Lonely Teardrops" "That's What Love Is Made Of" "Farewell My Summer Love" "Girl You're So Together" "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" "Bad" "The Way You Make Me Feel" "Speed Demon" "Liberian Girl" "Just Good Friends" "Another Part of Me" "Man in the Mirror" "Dirty Diana" "Smooth Criminal" "Leave Me Alone" "Twenty-Five Miles"
1990s	"Black or White" "Jam" "In the Closet" "Remember the Time" "Heal the World" "Who Is It" "Give In to Me" "Will You Be There" "Gone Too Soon" "Dangerous" "Come Together" "Scream" "Childhood" "They Don't Care About Us" "Stranger in Moscow" "This Time Around" "Earth Song" "D.S." "You Are Not Alone" "Tabloid Junkie" "HIStory" "Smile" "Mind Is the Magic" "Blood on the Dance Floor" "Ghosts" "Is It Scary" "On the Line"
2000s	"Speechless" "You Rock My World" "Heaven Can Wait" "Butterflies" "Cry" "One More Chance" "Cheater" "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" "Fall Again" "This Is It"
2010s	"Hold My Hand" "Hollywood Tonight" "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" "Behind the Mask" "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" "I'm So Blue" "Price of Fame" "Love Never Felt So Good" "Chicago" "Loving You" "A Place with No Name" "Slave to the Rhythm" "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" "Blue Gangsta"
2020s	"She's Trouble"
Other	"We Are the World" "What More Can I Give" "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" "Blood on the Dance Floor x Dangerous" "Diamonds Are Invincible"
Featured	"A Brand New Day" "Ease on Down the Road" "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" "Night Time Lover" "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" "State of Independence" "Muscles" "Say Say Say" "Somebody's Watching Me" "Don't Stand Another Chance" "Centipede" "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)" "Eaten Alive" "Get It" "2300 Jackson Street" "Do the Bartman" "Whatzupwitu" "Why" "I Need You" "We Be Ballin'" "Girls, Girls, Girls" "All in Your Name" "There Must Be More to Life Than This" "Low" "Don't Matter to Me"
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