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"What's Your Life?"

Date range assessed by the fact that Jermaine mentions that Michael bought the llama Louie after this encounter, and Michael bought Louie in Early April 1982.

Jermaine Jackson, “You Are Not Alone Michael -- Through a Brother’s Eyes”

One day, Michael decided he wanted a llama. He asked me to take him to nearby Agora and we ended up at this lot packed with hay and horse trailers. From the car, we eyed four llamas out back. I parked between two trailers, unintentionally shielding my Mercedes from view. It was the only parking spot available. When we walked into the office—two kids dressed casual but smart in T-shirt and jeans—this guy, bent across a counter doing some paperwork, didn’t even look up when he said, “We’re not hiring.”

“We ain’t looking for no job,” said Michael, wearing his shades. “We’re here to buy a llama.”

The man looked up. Not a flicker of recognition on his face. It took me about two seconds to know that his musical taste ventured nowhere the Thriller album. “We don’t have any llamas,” he said. The look on his face said it all: you can’t afford it.

“You have four of them out back,” I said, trying to keep calm.

“You know how much they cost?”

Michael smiled. “We know how much they cost.”

Then came an incredible bombardment of questions, fired by the man’s prejudices and assumptions. “Can you afford a llama? What do you boys do to afford a llama? Where will you keep it? Have you thought about this?”

Ever patient, Michael explained that we had a house with grounds and were serious customers. “I know how to look after all kinds of animals,” he added.

The man begrudgingly asked to see some ID. Michael handed over a bank card. I handed over my driving license. And then night became day.

“You’re those Jackson boys?” said the man, his face lighting up. He began to back-pedal about how he had to be careful and he couldn’t sell to just anyone; you understand how it is. But we didn’t understand: we saw right through him.

“So you’re happy to accept me because you now know who I am?” Michael asked. The biggest misconception people had about my brother was that his legendary shyness made him timid, but he was a man of principle, especially where his roots as a proud black man were concerned and he wasn’t afraid to speak up on this when he was riled. Michael took back his ID and came right out with it: “You are an ass, and we don’t want to spend our money in here any more.” Then we walked out to the Mercedes the man had failed to spot when we arrived.

On the drive home, Michael was exasperated. “Can you believe that? What is this area about? What are they teaching their kids?”

We had always been told by our parents that no one is born with a prejudice. It is something that is taught, ignorance passed down from generation to generation. The more Michael brooded, the more fired up he became. He told me to drive to Tito’s.

That afternoon, Tito’s acoustic guitar and our free-styling lyrics captured an angry inspiration for a song we called “What’s Your Life?.” That was how Michael liked to work. When a true experience inspired a song, he liked to get it down on his tape recorder or in the nearest studio. We recorded that song within an hour at Tito’s studio, also in Encino. It went like this:

First verse:

All my life I’ve been asked such questions

As who I am and what I do

When I tell them, they are happy

’Cause I am rich, it gets me through

If I were a poor boy, would they accept me

Am I rich? What’s it to you?

And what’s your reason for asking?

Is my life one big interview?

The hook:

What’s your life? What you do?

I do this, how ’bout you?

What’s your goal in life ’cause

I want tips, to get through

Are you rich? Are you poor?

Are you bold? Are you sure?

Will you bend, do you break?

Are you strong, to endure?

What’s your life? . . .

Those lyrics sum up the conversation we shared in the car.