shut up and listen

Opens with 2 bars of the simplest drum beat, and yet somehow it sounds so original. Think about it – how many bands, with a typical drum sound, would dare start a song with just drums playing 2 bars of this beat? It’s hard to identify but this drum intro sounds unique somehow… it’s just kick, snare and hats playing a straight 4/4 beat but that kick and that snare are so recognisable as being Billie Jean.

Then the ‘cat on the prowl’ bass line enters with a shaker on the off beats panned right. On the 5th bar of this there is a little whispered vocal ‘chicka chicka’ that is echoed and rapidly panned from left to right. Another 4 bars of just bass and drums and then the keyboard stabs enter, reinforcing the tonic note of the bass line. The stabs sound somewhere between an organ and backing vocals, probably a synth effect. They are back in the mix thanks to a generous serve of reverb.

When the lead vocal enters (30 seconds into the song!) it begins with stuttering hiccups and gasps which then punctuate the vocal throughout. High frequency reverb on the vocal which makes the sibilant words splash in the background; on ‘She’, ‘scene‘ and ‘said’ of the first two lines – ‘She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene, I said don’t mind, but what do you mean I am the one’. The next line ‘Who will dance on the floor in the round’ is harmonised with falsetto vocals hard left. And again for the final line of the verse.

Another verse the same as above and then the bridge. The bridge features the removal of the synth stabs being replaced by slow string swells, horn counterpoint panned right, whipcrack with reverb, and falsetto backing vocals building to the climax of the chorus.

The chorus is musically the same as the verse but with a new vocal melody. The instrumentation gets fuller for the chorus – the stabs hold for longer, a hand clap joins the snare, plus two hit tom fills, funk electric guitar and a doubled lead vocal. There are several vocal overdubs overlapping ‘hee hee’s and ‘no, no, no’ and they are either hard panned or pushed back in the mix sounding a little thinner (EQ).

The next set of verses feature a new synth part that reinforces the vocal and chord change. The vocal gets a bit more sophisticated with a new melody for ‘just remember to always think twice’ getting the falsetto double treatment and then the line ‘Do think twice’ appearing hard left, EQed to sound like a radio voice.

The next bridge has a high string part panned left and no horn counterpoint. The following chorus also has new string parts. The repeat chorus has a new funk guitar part and high horns (synth?) in counterpoint.

The instrumental break features the funk guitar that first appeared in the previous chorus, brought to the front of the mix, reverbed. High string stabs play counterpoint with the guitar solo.

The guitar stays for the rest of the song but drops back in the mix for the vocal to sing out the final choruses. Lots of vocal hiccups and ‘woo’s in the background scattered around the stereo field. The first line of the chorus then gets repeated like a loop ‘Billie Jean is not my lover’ with the funk guitar repeating the solo as the track fades out. A few ad lib vocals add interest to the fade out.

Overall quite a minimal track in terms of instrumental material. It is very clear – everything is easily heard, which i think is due to the bass line being almost the hook, so a lot of space has been left in the mix in order for us to hear every note of a busy bass line.

Notes: Apparently Quincy Jones didn’t like this song and argued for it to be left off Thriller. He also argued with Jackson over taking full production credit – apparently the demo Jackson did on his own sounds very similar to the finished Jones version so Jackson felt he deserved a co-production credit. Also, legend has it Jones got Jackson to sing vocal overdubs through a long cardboard tube – but i reckon that radio effect on ‘Do think twice’ is EQ. Lastly, it was apparently mixed 91 times by Bruce Swedien when usually he only mixes a song once – I dunno, sounds like Wikipedia bullshit to me.