"This Day in HIStory" February 24, 1970~ 'ABC' Was Released.

by **MJ Mod** Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:27 pm

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1970 - The Jackson 5's second single, "ABC", was released.

Again produced and written by The Corporation™, it went to #1 in the US, #8 in the UK and sold a massive 4.1 million copies world wide.

A stop and start bass line and drum part, and propulsive percussion -- congas, tambourine, shakers -- horns, a fuzz-box guitar, dual Afro-Cuban-influenced piano parts, and, of course, the adolescent call-and-response vocals of the Jackson 5 brothers drive this Motown classic and one of the sweetest and simultaneously most satisfying confections of the 1970s. The song displaced the Beatles' "Let It Be" in the number one spot on the pop chart. Opening with the fuzz guitar, an off-beat percussive piano note, and a "doo-dooh" vocal hook line, the drums kick in on the down beat with Michael Jackson, then all of 12 years old, who starts in on the school metaphor:

"You went to school to learn girl
Things you never knew before
Like "I" before "E" except after "C"
And why two plus two makes four
Now, now, now I'm gonna teach you, teach you, teach you
All about love girl, all about love
Sit yourself down, take a seat
All you gotta do is repeat after me."

The school scenario was no accident; Freddie Perren, a member of the Corporation, the writing/producing collective behind "ABC," was a former school teacher. He has noted in interviews that producing -- especially a group comprised of teens and preteens -- is much like teaching: outlining a plan and having the students execute it until the teacher is satisfied.

The similarity of the song's groove to the Jackson 5's first hit single, "I Want You Back," is also no accident; "ABC" is essentially the chorus of the former single (and by theory a pop song's catchiest part), repeated and looped for the body of the newer single. The walking bass line forms the backbone -- bass having always been a top priority in Motown recordings. The arrangement builds to a rowdy drum breakdown in the middle of the song, Michael Jackson shouting out to the object of his young heart's desire: "Sit down girl! I think I love you!" He is egged on by his brothers, "No! Get up girl! Show me what you can do!" At which point, the brothers start to harmonize on "Shake it, shake it baby." Through the whole arrangement, the brothers share the lead vocals, trading lines, Michael taking the lion's share. The urgency in Michael's young voice is befuddling; this is no child novelty act -- a youngster propped up and made up to look and sound like an adult; Jackson just belts it out as soulfully as an adult, yet still sounds natural, effortless, and untrained, simply gifted. One wonders why such gifts became watered down and squandered to the extent that they did in the 1980s and beyond. For, while this early stage of his career was often called bubblegum soul, the emphasis must surely be placed on soul. There is little cuteness beyond the knowing school metaphor and Michael Jackson is not handled with kid gloves in the arrangement. The resulting recording avoids a ham-fisted, over-processed, and produced child act.

Deke Richards, the principal author and producer of "The Corporation", was inspired during a special evening during the sixties. "I was working late one night in the bunker - the rehearsal room, to Histville in Detroit," he said, recalling the days when HDH team was the fire company. "And that opened the door and introduced himself? Lamont Dozier. He went to the piano and played a medley of his hits. I still laugh, I remember him joking between agreements and saying, '... then I writing ',' ... then I got with it ...', and '... you should certainly remind you of that one. "Thus I heard. It was simply now recycle their agreements; sometimes taking part of one and embellishing, creating a new one, or a change to a new song. Simple, but brilliant. My state of mind was the latter when I had the chorus of the second single of the Jackson 5. I restrained myself to say 'Do not forget that Lamont has taught you. " There were large sections of 'I Want You Back'. I restrained myself to say, 'find them and use them. " I sat at the piano and I began to quietly play the chords once, until I got to the refrain: 'I want you back yeh yeh yeh yeh.

Bam! It struck me like a train at any speed. That was the groove that I needed. I stopped, and played two different agreements, and so on. Next, I play a melody meeting starts at nice after two agreements. I smile and tell myself ' Bingo, That's the basics! '.

His partner in The Corporation, which ensures that the keyboards on the track, Freddie Perren, added: "The music for 'ABC' was right there. We just took this music and do not stop playing it. However, this was not so simple - it had to be rearranged so that it is a real song. We had to think, not just sing little phrases on the pace. This coincided with the fact that the Jackson 5 had age that they had, and most of their fans went to school."

"After all," continued Richards, Michael was so young. I just needed simple words, that young children could learn in a second. I always liked the title of Len Barry, '1, 2,3 ' . And I thought that learning to love was as simple ABC, not 1,2,3. And then it hit me. "My god, all children know their alphabet!" My head began to swim to a point where I thought she was going to explode.

by **Admin** Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:33 pm

More memories! I played this single so many times I had to get 2 more I wore them out lol. My mom and dad said they couldn't get the song out of their heads for a very long time! I remember saying that was not a bad thing right?

ABC-it's easy as 1-2-3 "This Day in HIStory" February 24, 1970~ 'ABC' Was Released. 1253309146

"This Day in HIStory" February 24, 1970~ 'ABC' Was Released. 1253309146

by ijustcan'tstoplovinguMJ Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:07 pm

lol how funny i grew up on ''rockin robin'' cassett tape i ran it until it fell apart

by **MJ Mod** Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:55 pm

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"This Day in HIStory" February 24, 1970~ 'ABC' Was Released.

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