Girlfriend
THE STORY BEHIND ' GIRLFRIEND '
This song holds a unique place in history as the spark that ignited the friendship and later the feud between Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. The story below expands on this fascinating relationship and the "lost" nature of the track.
McCartney, an ex-Beatle and the leader of the band Wings, was a massive fan of Michael’s voice. During their brief conversation at the party, McCartney told Michael, "I actually wrote a song for you. It’s called 'Girlfriend'." To prove it, McCartney reportedly sang a few bars of the melody right there in the living room. Michael was flattered and excited, and the two exchanged numbers. However, the chaos of the music industry took over. Tours happened, schedules clashed, and the song was never delivered.
Years passed. Michael and Paul lost touch. Assuming that Michael had either forgotten about the conversation or wasn't interested, McCartney decided not to let the song go to waste. He recorded "Girlfriend" with his band, Wings, for their 1978 album London Town.
The Wings version was a classic soft-rock track which was breezy, acoustic, and very "British." It was a minor track on the album, not a massive hit. It seemed that the song’s destiny was fulfilled, and the opportunity for Michael to sing it had been missed forever.
Fast forward to 1979. Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson were selecting songs for Off the Wall. Quincy Jones, who had an encyclopedic knowledge of music, brought a stack of potential songs to Michael. One of them happened to be "Girlfriend" from the Wings album.
Quincy Jones reportedly did not know about the encounter at the Hollywood party. He simply liked the melody and thought it would suit Michael’s voice. When he played the Wings track for Michael, Michael’s eyes lit up. He told Quincy, "Paul sang this to me at a party years ago! He wrote it for me!" It was a serendipitous moment. The song had found its way back to its intended singer through sheer coincidence.
The recording of "Girlfriend" highlighted the genius of the Quincy Jones production team. They took McCartney’s somewhat folk-influenced soft-rock track and dipped it in liquid soul.
Where the Wings version was strummy and loose, the Off the Wall version is polished and precise. The tempo was slowed down slightly to give it a "stepper’s groove", a style of mid-tempo soul popular in Chicago. The instrumentation shifted from acoustic guitars to warm electric keyboards and jazz-inflected guitars.
The most distinct addition was the saxophone solo. It replaced the guitar solo from the original, adding a layer of sophistication and romance that transformed the track from a pop song into an R&B ballad. Michael’s vocal performance was also markedly different from Paul’s. While Paul sang it with a bit of a rock edge, Michael sang it with a delicate, breathy innocence, using his falsetto to caress the high notes. It showcased Michael’s ability to take a song written by a white British rocker and make it sound like it was born in Motown.
"Girlfriend" is often overlooked by casual fans, but critics view it as a pivotal moment in Michael’s strategy. Off the Wall was designed to break Michael out of the "R&B singer" box and establish him as a global pop star. Covering a Paul McCartney song was a deliberate move to appeal to white pop radio and older audiences who grew up with The Beatles.
It worked. The song bridged the gap between two worlds. It proved that Michael wasn't just a "disco" artist; he was a vocalist who could interpret a classic pop ballad with the same skill as Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett.
Recording "Girlfriend" officially opened the door for the collaboration between the two titans. After the album was released, Paul was thrilled with Michael’s version. This success led directly to them working together in the studio for "The Girl Is Mine" (on Thriller) and "Say Say Say" (on McCartney’s Pipes of Peace).
However, "Girlfriend" also adds a poignant, tragic note to history. During their friendship, Paul gave Michael some business advice: "The real money is in music publishing. You should own the rights to songs." Michael took this advice to heart. Years later, when the ATV catalog (which contained the rights to nearly all The Beatles' songs) went up for sale, Michael bought itoutbidding Paul McCartney for his own songs. Paul felt betrayed, and their friendship ended. In retrospect, "Girlfriend" stands as the innocent beginning of that relationship, a moment of pure musical admiration before business and billions of dollars drove a wedge between the King of Pop and the Beatle.
While never released as a single in the United States, "Girlfriend" was released as a single in the UK and Europe to capitalize on the McCartney connection. It remains a favorite among audiophiles because of its pristine production. It serves as the gentle, melodic breather on an album full of high-energy funk, proving that Michael Jackson didn't always need to shout to make a statement.
LYRICS of GIRLFRIEND
Girlfriend, I'm gonna tell your boyfriend, yeah
Tell him (woo-hoo) exactly what we're doin', yeah
Tell him what you do to me
Late at night when the wind is free
Girlfriend, I'm gonna show your boyfriend, yeah
Show him (woo-hoo) the letters I've been savin', yeah
Show him how you feel inside
And how love could not be denied, oh no
We're gonna have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine
Huh, a-do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do
Huh, a-do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do
Do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do
We're gonna have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine
Girlfriend, you better tell your boyfriend, yeah
Tell him (woo-hoo) exactly what we're doin', yeah
Tell him what he needs to know
Or he may never let you go, yeah
We're gonna have to tell him
You'll only be a girlfriend of mine
Huh, a-do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do
Huh, a-do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do, yeah, yeah, yeah
Do-do-do, do, do, do, do, do-do, do, do
I'm gonna be your boyfriend (do-do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, do, do)
You'll be my girlfriend (do-do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, do, do)
(Do-do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, do, do)