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"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
Date range assessed by the fact that Siedah Garrett was recording “‘Man in the Mirror’ with this huge choir” on the same day as the “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” record date, and May 1987 was confirmed to be the date of the background vocals for “Man in the Mirror” (“In May [1987]... adding background vocals to ‘Man in the Mirror.’”) (“Rolling Stone” [September 24, 1987]).
Michael Jackson, “Moonwalk” autobiography (1988)
Several people have asked me if I had anybody in mind when I wrote “Can’t Stop Loving You.” And I say that I didn’t, really. I was thinking of somebody while I was singing it, but not while I was writing it.
"Ebony / Jet Showcase" interview transcript (September 1, 1987)
E/J: You know, on the album version of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", you make some very strong sensuous remarks to a woman that you're layin' next to.
MJ: I was in a bed when I was doing that also.
E/J: Really?
MJ: Yeah. I was laying in cover and everything when I did that whole rap. In the dark.
E/J: And the lyrics go: "because people really don't understand me".
MJ: No, I say, "a lot of people misunderstand me, it's 'cause they don't know me". I guess that's true. People believe a lot of crazy stories they read, some is true, some is not, and...
E/J: Does it hurt when you see those crazy stories?
MJ: Some time. But it's part of the work, you know.
E/J: You ever wanna lash out in any type of way and say: "Hey, that's not true"?
MJ: Yeah, a lot of times. But why bring more attention to a thing?
Siedah Garrett, duet singer, “Ebony” (September 18, 2012) (archived)
EBONY: After hearing your demo for “Man in the Mirror,” I understand that he loved your voice so much he wanted to do a duet. How did he come to ask you?
SIEDAH GARRETT: He didn’t ask while I was in the room. We had recorded the “Man in the Mirror” with this huge choir and it was just a long, long day of recording. But I wasn’t sure that we finished the song. So, Quincy called me back a couple days later. I thought we were going to finish “Man in the Mirror.” I go in the studio and there’s no choir. The song isn’t even up yet. There’s only four people in the studio. It’s me, Quincy, the fabulous engineer, Bruce Swedien, and Michael. This other song was playing. I was behind the console, behind the mixing board sitting, thinking that maybe they’re running behind. Maybe I’m late. Then Quincy yells back at me, “Siedah, you like this song?” I’m like, “Yeah. Yeah.” He said, “Well, can you sing it?” I’m like, “Yeah.” He said, “Well, go on in there and sing it. Michael, go on in there with Siedah.” So, this moment for me right now is so real. I’m walking into the studio and behind me is Michael. I get in the studio and there are two stands with music sheets on each. On the music sheet it says, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” Michael. Siedah. Each of us get a verse and a chorus. At that moment, in that instant, I realized, “Oh my God, I’m going to do a duet with the King of Pop. I can’t believe it. I’m just busy trying to do the best that I can do so that they would want to keep me on this. I’m like seriously trying to sing and watch Michael do his side of the verse. When my verse comes in, I close my eyes and step up to the mic and I start bemoaning these lyrics. I start feeling this stuff flying in my face. Michael is throwing popcorn at me while I’m trying my best to do this perfect vocal for him and Quincy. He’s cracking up because Quincy’s like, “Siedah, you’re wasting studio time. Come on. I don’t have time.” Quincy just heard that I kept messing up. He didn’t know that Michael was throwing stuff at my face. Michael was cracking up. He thought that was the funniest thing while I was getting reprimanded for something that he thought was hilarious. Quincy just thought I was messing up.
“MJJCommunity” interview (2012) (archived)
MJJC: A lot of people have said Michael had a great sense of humour. What are your personal experiences of this?
Siedah: Once, while in the studio recording our duet "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", he began tossing popcorn in my face in an effort to make me mess-up. Producer Quincy Jones, not seeing this, began to chastise me for flubbing the takes. Michael, on the other hand, was just CRACKING UP!
Rolling Stone (September 24, 1987)
He even had help from Quincy Jones writing the confessional spoken introduction to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," in which he talks lovingly to his duet partner Siedah Garrett and says wispily, "A lot of people misunderstand me. That's because they don't know me at all."
The song had been conceived from the start as Bad's first single; originally Michael wanted to sing it with Barbra Streisand. But according to Dileo, Streisand "didn't like it"; Whitney Houston didn't work out, either. "I didn't lose any sleep over it," says Dileo. "I knew the song was a hit – with or without Barbra." In May, Michael met Garrett when she was adding background vocals to "Man in the Mirror." "I love your voice," he told her. "I think you are incredible. I love your song." And suddenly she found herself recording the duet.
Brad Sundberg, Technical Director / engineer, Facebook Post (September 20, 2016)
When we were in the studio working on IJCSLY, Michael, Quincy and Bruce wanted an interesting intro for the song, so along came the "Pillow Talk". The theory was that Michael wanted it to sound like he was whispering into a girl's ear - just a few simple phrases.
We went to great lengths (far more effort than you could imagine) to create a holophonic sound. We used a modified binaural microphone, which is shaped exactly like a human head, only the ears have been fitted with microphones.
Michael was giving a script of phrases to record into the holophonic head, then Bruce fed those phrases into a sound processor called Q-Sound. (No relation to Quincy). There were many other steps in the process, but in the end Michael's voice sounded, well, very close to the listener. The funny thing was that the day it was released (I still remember hearing it at 7am on KIIS FM Los Angeles with Rick Dees), the DJs hated the intro! It was too long and they wanted to get to the song as quickly as possible. So Bruce called me and we returned to the studio to remove the intro for all future pressings of the album. (It was returned for Bad 25).
Also, many people have heard rumors that the song was written for Barbra Streisand. True! Not only was it written for Barbra but Michael actually scribbled her initials on the original lyrics as a guideline for her. She declined, and truthfully I think Siedah was a far more natural choice. (Oddly enough after the Bad album Quincy, Bruce and I worked with Barbra on her album "Till I Loved You". We had a running joke that with Barbra Streisand, Bruce Swedien and Brad Sundberg - there was way too much BS in the room!)
During the initial run of the Bad Tour it was Sheryl Crow (yes, THAT Sheryl Crow) who sang the duet on stage with Michael.
Bruce and I used to hear about the countless weddings and receptions where IJCSLY was played or sang for brides and grooms around the world. It seemed like it was on the radio all the time that autumn.
I don't know if people read liner notes anymore, but the players on IJCSLY represent some of the best talent in the music industry:
Quincy Jones, Nathan East, Ndugu Chancler, Dann Huff, Paulinho Da Costa, John Barnes, Christopher Currell, David Paich, Greg Phillinganes, Steve Porcaro, and Michael and Siedah.
Lots of recognizable and re-occurring names on that list. This song was not about showboating or upstaging the vocalists, rather they created a lush, beautiful track which was impeccably recorded and mixed by Bruce. Musical precision and restraint from start to finish.
During the latter part of recording the Bad album I was assigned to Westlake Studio C down the hall from Studio D to help Michael and Siedah record the French and Spanish versions of the song. I am told the French version is not a perfect translation, but I think it was an honest gesture from Michael to his international fans to give them something special. It was fun to watch him try to pronounce each phrase perfectly with the translators. Here's the funny thing: the engineer assigned to handle some of that recording (I won't mention his name out of respect) was in way over his head. He had never worked with anyone close to Michael's stature, and he was nervous. Like shaking nervous. I tried to calm him down, but he was a wreck! The problem with being that nervous is you make mistakes, and he made a lot. At one point he accidentally erased an entire section of Michael's finished vocals. I thought he (the engineer) was going to throw up. I explained to Michael that an honest mistake had been made and we had to re-record those vocals. I won't say Michael was thrilled, but he accepted the challenge without complaining and we started over.
I often joke that people who purchased our albums likely think that our projects were recorded in massive recording palaces with an enormous staff of engineers. Not true - we kept it lean and mean back then.
Happy 29th Birthday "I Just Can't Stop Loving You!" A beautiful song performed by a pair of remarkable singers.
Leon “Ndugu” Chandler, drummer, “Rhythm” magazine (July 2010)
Ndugu Chandler was the second familiar face on those sessions, although he only cut one track and his experience was the polar opposite to JR Robinson's marathon no-fills sessions.
"The funny thing is, when we did 'Thriller', all my parts were overdub parts. When I did 'Bad', we did 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' as a live session with everybody there together, including Michael", says Ndugu. "We were all basically in the same room over at Westlake on Santa Monica. When I say 'live', we had piano, bass, drums, guitar, and vocals together."
Recording in the same room with Michael, Ndugu says the superstar got down to work like any other professional.
"In all these environments, there were no bodyguards, no security once he got into the studio", says Ndugu. "Once he got into the studio, he was a Regular Joe. We all sat and ate together, we talked, and he was there and one of the guys, one of the musicians."
Marva King, original duet singer, “Soul Music” interview (2010) (archived)
One day I was invited to the studio and I met Michael. I was like, “Oh my God! I’m here with Michael Jackson!” and then my childhood thoughts and dreams just went through my head and Michael was admiring this beautiful waist top that I had. It had so many different panels of lace and he said, “It’s so beautiful!” He kept walking around me, and I froze! I couldn’t even talk. I think I’m star struck! I did pretty good until I got to him, because I had a crush on him as a kid.
Oh my goodness, I’m like, “Michael Jackson is admiring me!” It’s so funny. We ended up getting to know each other. It took a while, because he had a lot of security and stuff, like, “What does she want?” and “Why is she really around?” You know, they watched me for a while. They studied me religiously, but then they learned, “Okay, she’s not so crazy and she doesn’t have any other motive, except she wants to work and she’s friends with Michael.” Michael ended up taking to me, so I ended up becoming one of his playmates. We had too much fun! We were two young adults that were real childish, but we had so much fun! I would travel with him sometimes, and we would torture the press, we would hide and do things (laughs) and just have a lot of fun.
He wanted me to sing on some records, and I ended up doing the song “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” that he did with Siedah Garrett. Well, Michael put me on the record, I recorded that, and I was so excited, and I came back to the studio 3 days later and Quincy had taken it off and put Siedah on there.
JK: So you had done the lead part originally?
MK: Yes. So, I just ended up being in some of the background.
JK: So, you were on the backgrounds on the record, right?
MK: Right. We did backgrounds. Because it was such a political situation going on at that time, some kind of way I wasn’t listed.