Peak
7
Weeks
14
Score
2,497
Chart Year
1983
"Human Nature" was written by Steve Porcaro, keyboardist with the band Toto. "I had written the song for my daughter Heather. Something had happened at school and it just inspired me. I wrote the song while we were mixing "Africa" and was just tinkering on the piano and wrote 'Human Nature.' It was one of a batch of three songs I had written in a certain time period. I had written the lyrics, which were the same verse I was singing over and over again. I had the 'why, why' chorus with the slap echo. Like most of my songs it was an unfinished song." Steve Porcaro and fellow Toto member David Paich worked with producer Quincy Jones on the Thriller album, doing some synthesizer programming and playing. Said Porcaro: "Quincy had been asking David for songs and he was sending a messenger almost every day to David's house - where I was living at the time - to pick up anything David was working on. And so David was sending him stuff. One time, he had gotten a call that the messenger was on his way and he called down to me and told me to throw something we'd been working on onto a cassette. I didn't have any blank cassettes, so I took a cassette that had 'Human Nature' on one side and turned the B-side over, rewound it and put on these two songs of David's. and then gave them to the messenger." Jones played both sides of the cassette and was excited about "Human Nature." Quincy called David the next day and was raving about this tune that went 'why, why.' It took David half an hour to tell Quincy that it wasn't his song! But the song was incomplete lyric-wise and Jones asked Porcaro to finish them. Porcaro recalls: "I forced myself to write the lyrics and Quincy was less than thrilled with them and he asked me if I would mind if he brought in John Bettis to finish them. I was completely thrilled with what John did with the lyrics." Quincy Jones assembled an impressive array of talent to work on the Thriller album, including four members of the band Toto. These guys knew the ropes because they were session musicians before they formed the band, and in 1982 they were red hot, scoring hits with "Rosanna" and "Africa" from their album Toto IV, which would win the Grammy for Album of the Year at the 1983 ceremony (Thriller would win the next year). Four members of the band played on this track: David Paich: synthesizer Steve Porcaro: synthesizer Steve Lukather: guitar Jeff Porcaro: drums Paich, Steve Porcaro and Lukather also did the arrangement. In our interview with David Paich, he explained that Jackson gave them lot of support and creative freedom. "Michael was very involved in it, and he's a perfectionist," said Paich. "He was always in the room with us, privately, saying, 'I just want you to have total freedom to do whatever you want. Just think of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel - do whatever you need to do here. Sky's the limit.'" The Jazz legend Miles Davis recorded this song in 1985. Steve Porcaro was thrilled when he first heard Miles' version of his tune. "My father was a jazz musician and when I was growing up, most of the music we heard in our household was classical music and jazz - Miles Davis. He was my father's hero. My brother Jeff learnt to play drums listening to 'Bag's Groove.' Miles Davis was ingrained in all of us, so I was completely thrilled. I was so honored. I remember doing a session with the bassist Neil Stubenhaus about six months after Miles did You're Under Arrest. He just cornered me and said 'do you realize how great it is to have Miles do one of your tunes? Do you have any idea what it means?' I certainly did. It's one of the things I'm most proud of out of everything I've done." In 1985, Miles moved to Warner Brothers records and teamed with Porcaro to record new material for his first Warner album. They went to Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro's studio (The Villa) and tried recording "Exist" and "Walk of Life," but the sessions were unsuccessful. While at The Villa, Miles ended up playing on the Toto tune "Don't Stop Me Now." (Thanks to George Cole, author of The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991. Cole interviewed Steve Porcaro for the book.) Report this ad This was the fifth of seven singles released from the Thriller album. All of them made the Top 10 in the US. In 1993, SWV (Sisters With Voices) hit #2 in the US with a medley of this song combined with their own release "Right Here." Sheryl Crow performed with Michael Jackson on his Bad tour, joining him on stage for "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." In 2010, she told Rolling Stone, "My favorite memory of Michael was watching him do 'Human Nature' every night. he'd cry, and those tears were so directly linked to the wounds that drove him to anesthetize himself." On November 7, 2008, Britney Spears and Madonna performed this at Madonna's Dodger Stadium concert in Los Angeles. Justin Timberlake also performed at the show, joining Madonna on stage for "4 Minutes." >> John Mayer played guitar on a mostly instrumental version at Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009.
Looking out Across the nighttime The city winks a sleepless eye Hear her voice Shake my window Sweet seducing sighs Get me out Into the nighttime Four walls won't hold me tonight If this town Is just an apple Then let me take a bite If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why, does he do it that way If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why does he do me that way Reaching out To touch a stranger Electric eyes are everywhere See that girl She knows I'm watching She likes the way I stare If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why, does he do me that way If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why does he do me that way I like livin' this way I like lovin' this way (That way) Why why (That way) Why why Looking out Across the morning Where the city's heart begins to beat Reaching out I touch her shoulder I'm dreaming of the street If they say Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature Why, why, does he do me that way If they say Why, why, ooo tell 'em Why, why does he do me that way If they say why, why, cha cha cha cha cha cha Why does he do me that way If they say why, why, why, ooh tell 'em Why does he do me that way If they say why, ooh tell 'em Why does he do me that way If they say why, da-da-da da da da da-da Why, why, does he do my that way, I like living this way Why, oh why, why, why
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 23, 1983 | 48 | 78 |
| 2 | Jul 30, 1983 | 35 | 91 |
| 3 | Aug 6, 1983 | 27 | 99 |
| 4 | Aug 13, 1983 | 23 | 103 |
| 5 | Aug 20, 1983 | 15 | 111 |
| 6 | Aug 27, 1983 | 13 | 113 |
| 7 | Sep 3, 1983 | 10 | 116 |
| 8 | Sep 10, 1983 | 9 | 117 |
| 9 | Sep 17, 1983 | 7 | 119 |
| 10 | Sep 24, 1983 | 7 | 119 |
| 11 | Oct 1, 1983 | 15 | 111 |
| 12 | Oct 8, 1983 | 24 | 102 |
| 13 | Oct 15, 1983 | 61 | 65 |
| 14 | Oct 22, 1983 | 87 | 39 |