Michael Jackson

Lyrics

To the Press:You bashed me in headlines, then printed them raw,danced on the wreckage you claimed that you saw.You conjured confessions from lies and deceit Then dragged me through tabloids like trash in the street.My whisper was symphony,so you dubbed it bizarre,You never saw tragedy just the price of a star.You built me of glitter then crowned me grotesque Shot flashbulb confessions in rhythm and desk.You magnified moments,then staged my descent My agony sold as your primetime event.You carved up my childhood in serif and lead Then asked why my laughter slept with the dead.To the Courts:You summoned me shackled to tales that you spun,Then patchworked your guilt with the face of your son.You knew I was broken,too soft for the kill,So you painted me predator fed lies their fill.You shattered the shelters I built out of ache,Called safety a sickness for scandals sake.The court never listened just watched me dissolve,trial of whispers no truth could absolve.I bled on the stand,but you thirsted for more,You craved the inferno,not right or remorse,Now curse me in vigil like grief is a course.To the Industry Oh,you fed me praise and spooned me your drugs turned lullabies sweet with executive shrugs.You dressed me in patents,injected my face,Then hung me in boardrooms like I was disgrace.I moonwalked through contracts,needles for shoes,Each beat I created was blood I would lose.I was chained to a label with diamond cuffed wrists,puppet for profit lost deep in your twists.You mined all my magic ignored what it cost,Then pointed and gasped when the wonder was lost.clipped every feather then screamed,He can’t fly,You cut off my air just to ask how I died.To My Father:You choreographed torment in perfect 4/4,And called every bruise just a step to endure.Your belt wrote sonnets I still can’t unhear Each welt a reminder that worth equals fear.You said Be a man,while I begged to be free,But your hands built the prison,that became all of me.I shattered on cue just to earn you esteem,While screaming went inward and bridged every seam.You made me a soldier,then laughed when I fell,A child turned machine in a Motown hotel.But Daddy the beat that you taught me to keep,Still haunts every breath that escapes in my sleep,To the Public:You cheered while I shattered devoured my fall,Then cried when they found me cold in the hall.You worshipped the shimmer ignored when I’d fade Clapped for the king,but not when i was afraid.You loved me in sequins but feared me in skin,Then asked why I harbored self doubt within.You called me Wacko then mourned with a post,But where were you when I was more ghost than host,When slumber escaped me and hope turned to haze,And trust wore away in a funeral phase.You watched me collapse,then played my old tapes,But never once asked if I needed escapes.To All of You Together:Now I sleep where the quiet is thicker than bone,Draped in your flowers,but buried alone.I was holy then heretic,relic then fraud,A child draped in reverie,exiled by God.