The following comes from a Sept. 21 story on LifeSiteNews.com.
The King of Pop is dead, but he has a message from beyond the grave about life: unborn life.
“Abortion Papers,” which Jackson recorded in the 1980s, tells the story of a pregnant woman who is considering abortion, apparently against the wishes of the baby’s father. The lyrics are sometimes obtuse, and sometimes difficult to make out, but the message becomes clear in the chorus:
Those abortion papers
Signed in your name against the words of God
Those abortion papers
Think about life, I’d like to have my child
On numerous occasions the narrator questions the abortion asking, “What about love?” and “What about God?”
Joseph Vogel at The Atlantic reports that in his notes about the song, Michael Jackson expressed his concern about getting his message across in a non-judgmental way.
“I have to do it in a way so I don’t offend girls who have gotten abortions or bring back guilt trips so it has to be done carefully…I have to really think about it,” Jackson reportedly wrote.
Matt Forger, an audio engineer who worked with Jackson for years, says that technicians who were working on archiving the King of Pop’s recordings initially “overlooked” the song. But when they did finally hear it, they “knew it could be controversial, especially with what’s been going on politically.”
“But when you listen to the song there’s a story being told,” says Forger. “Michael really reflected on what the approach should be. He wasn’t sure how to narrate it. There were different variations with vocals—he didn’t want it to be judgmental. He was very clear about that. But he wanted to present a real, complicated situation.”
But whatever Jackson’s intentions, the song has been given a less than enthusiastic welcome by some abortion activists.
Popular feminist writer Amanda Marcotte took issue with the song’s suggestion that a father might have any rights over his own child in a post on Slate magazine, describing the song as “a Christianity-heavy screed chastising a woman for choosing abortion instead of giving the narrator the child he is entitled to.”
To read original story, click here.
Just maybe this song was enough to save that poor man’s soul,
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Nope.
That would take God’s grace.
God’s grace moves through the actions and words of men, Rodda. When are you going to enroll in a course on basic Catholicism? You display various classic heretical ideas but not any Catholicism in your posts. It is like you learned your religion by watching TV sitcoms.
His counterpart in the rock world, Mick Jagger, preferred to write lyrics about the devil. It could be an interesting study to compare / contrast the lives of these two primordial wizards.
Jackson was born on my birthday and I recently learned he also had the same inherited liver disorder Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. I think he had a most grievous childhood and unfortunate family, and I pray his soul is at peace. He really was a musical genius, and it’s unfortunate that he couldn’t have found a home in Catholicism with people he could trust to help with his decisions. Interesting that you would compare him with Jaegger, who I’ve always understood to be the biggest hypocrite in the world…that he is more comfortable in three piece business suits (wasn’t his dad a bus.prof at London Univ.? Doesn’t he have a deg.in bus.?) and that his vulgar antics on the stage are just that…theater for subverting and using young people. I don’t know either personally, so I can’t say, but just superficially guessing, it would seem jaegger is deliberately and intentionally lying that he’s ‘anti-tradition’ to make a buck and that Jackson was more interested in exploring music and trying to find a life while being used by others to make their bucks like parasites. His liver disease meant he should never ever have been given those medications. His doctor was truly negligent. And now it looks like his children are cursed by the same parasites using them as well.
Dana, what I mean to compare is neither their persons nor their characters, but their dynamics. Their stage movements are the most primordial (for lack of better word) I’ve ever seen depicted on prehistoric cave painting, petroglyphs, Egyptian tomb art. There is no human dance movement that is more “physically expressive” (again for lack of better term) than these two. There is no, nada, zilch, and also zero abstraction in their symbology … but rather completely communicative without any mental processing being necessary. I called it wizardry, by which I mean wizardry of religious art and not of science. It is primal dance dynamics.
Well, I have never seen Mick Jaegger perform so I couldn’t say. I’ve studied and taught dance (and no, I’m not puffing myself up) so I really appreciate Jackson’s genius, but I’ve never heard anything about Jaegger’s dancing ability other than I’ve heard him described as a prancing elf . haha I’ll admit I’m VERY prejudiced against the man and have always thought him a narcissist and rather evil. That is a very interesting observation on your part though. You must have seen him perform live? His body language rather than his singing is what spoke to his fans?
“Prancing elf” is an apt description, Dana. If you compare the “stop action” sort of silhouette of each of these characters’ dance or prance movements, what you might see is the same as one sees in primitive cave art. The drawings are “stick” figure sketchings of the fundamental movements that interact probably universally with maybe one could call it the brain stem.
Jacko may have been wacko about a lot of things, but abortion sure wasn’t one of them. Amanda Marcotte is the one that takes the cake on this issue for suggesting men have no rights to their child even though it takes two to make the baby.
I agree; one little bit of truth even when in a context that hammers the drums of the world, the flesh and the devil can move a soul towards God.
Poetry. Did you make that up?: Pretty profound, JLS.
Should I copyright it, Dana?
No…expand on it. Make it into a longer poem.
In the war against evil, enemies appear unexpectedly … and allies too! Who would have thought in the entertainment industry cesspool of vice and corruption, this voice would speak for righteousness. This gives one hope that Michael may have heard much better words when he left this life than many of us would have expected, and that he joined that large and unlooked-for throng that enter into the Kingdom before the scribes and Pharisees.
God bless Michael. His message may save one life.
Yes, God bless Michael. A moving song. I agree with Dana. Too bad he couldn’t have found a home in Catholicism.
Michael’s Jehovah Witnesss side was showing through…
The soul knows right and wrong, its inherent in man. (and women for you sic feministas)
Michael was a devoted Christian who loved God like any Catholic. I am quite shocked on the harsh comments written about him. The man was not perfect, but he was blessed with so many talents in which he took very serious and used it to make this world a better place and for awakening, peace,and love. If you wants to know the true Michael Jackson, read his music lyrics (they are filled with emotions, passion and mostly biblical messages like abortion papers). This is the reason his music will leave forever and continue to inspired generations. He lived his life simple, and was childlike (not childish). The bible says, if you cannot be childlike, you won’t enter heaven. He is the greatest entertainer on earth and now he is one of the greatest in heaven. I love you Michael, you changed my life for the better. After listening to this song, I started praying the rosary because I believe his message came from God. The world needs more prayer for the unborn. Let’s not judge Michael, let’s listen to the lyrics of his music and make a better world (like he did).
“not perfect”, Nada?! I guess you’d say the notorious Jerry Sandusky is “not perfect” yet a Christian because he attends church.
I’d give this one a pass, JLS. I detect a bit of je ne c’est quoi? I dunno…a bit of a fan, as in fanatic?