Friday, January 26, 2007

Singles #11: Michael Jackson - Heal The World (1992)

Heal The World is one of the most memorable songs off the Dangerous album. It was a huge hit in UK, where it peaked at #2, as well as on our sunny shores of Singapore. I remember singing the song during music lessons at school, and everyone else knew the lyrics almost by heart.

The melody is simple easy to sing along to, and the message of the song is clear and straight forward - heal the world and make it a better place for you and me. That's the main reason why the song has had such a big impact on people all over the world.

When MJ was tapped to perform at the Superbowl XXVII half-time show in January 1993, he performed Heal The World alongside a medley of his biggest hits. It ended up being one of the highest rated entertainment programmes ever.

The Heal The World performance was spectacular in its own right. The whole stadium was transformed into a huge placard, as the audience were given cards to hold up as MJ performed the song. The finished mural consisted of people of all races and skin colour holding hands , living in harmony, reflecting the song's message. The aerial shot of the stadium is one of the most, if not the most, memorable images of Superbowl halftime shows ever.

I take that back, Janet's exposed nipple in 2004 would take that honour. :)

Anyway, I have 4 different versions of the single. The first one below here includes She Drives Me Wild (also from Dangerous) and Man In The Mirror (from Bad), which has a similar message of making the world a better place. No idea why She Drives Me Wild is here though.


This second version does not contain Man In The Mirror but instead contains a shorter edit of Heal The World, together with She Drives Me Wild.


The third version is the Japanese version, which is smaller in size than the normal CD. There are only two tracks. Also included are the lyrics to the song.



The fourth version is a 7" vinyl single. it's quite special because it's a poster bag edition, so the cover actually folds out to be a poster.





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