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"Say Say Say" and "The Man"

Date range confirmed in Mike Smallcombe’s “Making Michael” (Two months later [in May 1981]… they had the basis of a song that became ‘Say Say Say’... Recording began during the remainder of Michael’s stay… McCartney also played Michael a song on the piano that he had not yet completed, called ‘The Man’, and Michael again completed the lyrics.”) and “in March and April 1982… they also laid down overdubs to ‘The Girl is Mine’ and ‘The Man’” (Kit O’Toole, “Michael Jackson FAQ”).

Mainly recorded in May 1981, additional overdubs recorded March and April 1982

“Say Say Say”

Paul McCartney, “Club Sandwich” Paul McCartney fan club magazine No. 61 (1983)

He's great, he's got a great voice, he's got it really, so he's good to be around, and he's inspiring... Michael rang me up and said, "What are we going to do?" He said, "Let's make hits!" So, I said, "Yeah, OK, great, well, come on on over." He wanted to write with me. I think he was getting into a writing thing himself. These last couple of years, he's written masses of stuff. So, we sat down for an afternoon, and 'Say Say Say' was the first thing that we came up with, and we really just had fun... It's funny, really, because sometimes you think--well, you've got to be careful about musical chemistry, but occasionally, I just think--oh well, let's just see what happens. So, I sat around with a guitar plonking chords, and came up with the original idea of the song, and Michael added and filled in a lot, a lot of words, and he had some ideas for arrangements and stuff. So, it was quite a nice team effort, and it was a good change for me to work with someone like Michael, because he's hot.

Bill Wolfer, keyboardist, Invincible Magazine (October 2014)

Michael called to ask if I would help with a demo. I said sure, do you want me to come over to your house? He said, no, can we do it at yours? I was surprised that he would come to me, but why not? Maybe he wanted to get out of the house. When he came over, my wife was watching a rerun of “Grease” on TV. Michael flopped on the couch, saying, “I love this movie!”

After it was over, he took out a cassette, and it was only then that I learned that it was a song that he and Paul McCartney had written. Michael wanted to do an elaborate demo to show Paul his vision of the song. The cassette was just Paul on acoustic guitar, and he and Michael singing. We worked out the beat on a Linn LM-1 drum machine, and recorded a basic demo of Rhodes piano, synth bass and the drum machine on my four track recorder. This was used a few days later in the studio to teach the song to Nate Watts (bass) and Ricky Lawson (drums). We laid down the track, just the three of us, and then David Williams did guitar overdubs. Later that week, I came in to do some synth overdubs, and watched him record the horns and harmonica solo.

It was pretty elaborate for a demo! Michael confided in me that he was doing a full 24 track recording in the hope that Paul would just use his version, adding their vocals and mixing it. Months later, Michael told me the story. He had flown to England, and played the demo for Paul. Paul immediately heard the sound quality, and asked, “Is this 24 track?”

Michael said it was. Paul said, “Did you bring it with you?”

And, of course he had. So, the ‘demo’ became the record, just as Michael had hoped.

Tom Bahler, studio producer

Most artists don’t read music because it’s not important. If they do read it’s like looking at a blueprint. You can’t get the feeling from the blueprint. For instance, when Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson sang “Say Say Say”, Michael laid down the vocals. Paul came in and sang to Michael’s vocals in the earphones. But at some point, he said, “OK, take him out, I’ve been guided long enough.”

Ricky Lawson, drummer, “Rhythm” magazine (July 2010)

"Michael was there, and the engineer and myself. We got in there and knocked it out, did it in one session, about three and a half hours", [Ricky Lawson] recalls. "The studio was Hollywood Sound. At that time, I had a combination kit, it was essentially a Gretsch kit. I had a Gretsch snare, a few Gretsch toms, a few Ludwig toms, and I pieced it all together. It served me well, because that particular drum set was used on a lot of George Duke's projects. It was a real simple kit, single heads not double-headed like Phil Collins' drum set.

"At that time, people were really into the sound of the instrument - drums", says Ricky. "It wasn't all drum machine sounds. They wanted good quality sounds and they needed somebody to help get the idea on tape like he heard it. There was like an Indian tom tom part. It wound up being a hit song."

George Martin, “Pipes of Peace” producer, “Club Sandwich” Paul McCartney fan club magazine No. 61 (1983) (archived)

Way back, when we started "Tug of War", my thoughts to Paul were, "Let's make a slightly harder, a more funky album than perhaps you have done in the past... In fact, the "Pipes of Peace" album became more what we were looking for in "Tug of War", and certainly Michael Jackson's tracks turned out that way. Although they were Paul and Michael's songs, they seemed to get more of that dynamism on those tracks.

Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

[Michael] actually does radiate an aura when he comes into the studio, there's no question about it. He's not a musician in the sense that Paul (McCartney) is, he's not a great keyboard player, or guitar player, but he does know what he wants in music and he has very firm ideas.

“Los Angeles Times” (September 22, 1985)

Michael Jackson was in great spirits when Paul McCartney invited him to London a few years ago to work together on a record. He loves the Beatles' music, especially such endearing McCartney melodies as "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby."

They spent several days at famed Abbey Road Studios, scene of legendary Beatles sessions, and came up with the lilting "Say, Say, Say," which eventually went to No. 1 in the United States.

Jackson stayed at a hotel that, as irony would have it, was across the street from ATV Music, the publishing company that owned the Beatles catalogue of more than 200 songs. He would meet McCartney at Abbey Road around noon, and the two threw ideas back and forth while McCartney sat at the piano.

Jackson usually ate dinner at McCartney's house, a Tudor-styled residence situated on nearly 1,000 acres an hour's drive from the heart of London. Sometimes they would end up in the kitchen with McCartney's wife, Linda, and their children--all helping to cook.

One night McCartney showed Jackson a thick, bound notebook filled with song titles. Jackson knew that McCartney had bought numerous song catalogues, including the works of Buddy Holly.

Jackson, never one to hide his emotions, became more excited as he turned the pages. He wanted to know more about owning songs: How do you buy them? What do you do with them after you have them?

The conversation moved on to other matters, but Jackson couldn't get the song catalogues out of his head.

Adam Faith, “Acts of Faith” autobiography, from Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro” (summary/quotes)

In 1980 (1981?, Ed.) when Michael was staying at Paul McCartney’s he was taken for a visit to Faith’s house for the day. According to Faith Michael came with his bodyguard Bill Bray and spent most of his time playing football with the children and eating very little.

“Michael was the sweetest, kindest boy you could ever wish to meet. He spent most of his time playing football with the kids in the indoor riding school,” Faith said.

Sitting later with those gathered at Faith’s home, Michael quietly listened in until he mentioned he had made a bit of money from his Off The Wall album and was looking to invest. It was here Faith said that it was him who suggested Music Publishing.

“I piped up that he should sink it all into music publishing.”

Faith later joked that McCartney had never forgiven him for mentioning the idea and that he never got any commission from Michael for suggesting it.

Steve Strange, singer / “Club for Heroes” owner, Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

While in London recording ‘Say Say Say’ McCartney asked club owner and pop star Steve Strange if he could make provisions for Michael and his bodyguards to visit his private ‘Club For Heroes.’ Strange met up with Michael at a wine bar in South Molten, London. “Paul needed someone to take Michael out on the town because he had already made other arrangements so he asked me to look after him.” “Michael was with his huge minders. I was shocked because they both looked about 70 and he called them Gramps.” Michael told Strange he’d never visited a nightclub in London before and was struck by the atmosphere of the place when he settled down. “He said it sounded like paradise on earth, Strange remembered, and that he wanted to feel the aura coming from the outrageous people there.”

What seemed to fascinate Michael was the clothes the people wore and how they looked cool in them. Michael told Strange he was interested in setting up his own ‘Club For Heroes’ at his home in America. Michael enjoyed the place so much he danced for an hour and later asked Strange to send him a video of the club to take home.