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"Childhood"

Date confirmed by the fact that “both ‘Childhood’ and ‘Smile’ were recorded live with an orchestra at the Hit Factory on the same day” (Mike Smallcombe, “Making Michael”), and “Smile” was recorded on “29 March 1995” (François Allard and Richard Lecocq’s “Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track”)

 

Michael Jackson, “The Museum of HIStory” website (July 4, 1995), song commentary audio transcripts (mirror) (archived mirror)

Our personal history begins in childhood and the song "Childhood" is a reflection of my life, years ago, when I was much younger. And it's about the pain, some of the joys, some of the dreaming, some of the mental adventures I took because of the different lifestyle that I had being a child performer. I was born on the stage and "Childhood" - it is my mirror - it is my story.

“HIStory” album liner notes (archived)

"Childhood" is dedicated to Little Craig Fleming, and his surviving brother, Michael, for whom a scholarship fund has been established to ensure that his childhood ushers in a future of all possibilities.

Love, MJ.

 

Bruce Swedien, studio engineer, from Bea Swedien’s (wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien), “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

Of the experience, Bruce wrote: “When Michael finished recording “Have You Seen My Childhood” and the Charlie Chaplin song “Smile” with the orchestra, he asked me if he could go out in the studio and meet the musicians. Over the studio talkback I asked Jeremy Lubbock (arranger and conductor) if Michael could come out to meet the orchestra. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Absolutely!’ During the recording, the entire orchestra had been listening to Michael sing through their individual headphones. When Michael walked out in the studio to meet the musicians, they gave him a standing ovation. Every member of the 50-piece orchestra stood up and tapped their music stands with their bows as loud as they could. Jeremy stood on the conductor’s podium and also applauded as loud as he could. I was applauding too, in the control room, as loud as I could. Michael was thrilled.”

 

Ryan Arnold, assistant audio engineer, Reddit AMA (April 25, 2019) (archived)

Reddit User: I saw you mentioning about little notes from Jackson about the Childhood song - do you know what it was that he wanted on this particular track?

Ryan Arnold: I have the paperwork in the attic still, I'll find it this weekend perhaps! It was something about the sound of the keys having to be a particular way, and for no one to do anything without his permission on that track and channel. Then there were notes for the music video he had in mind, which I guess he absently put on the sheet. I remember when he recorded the lyrics, the lights were normally dimmed, but Michael insisted the lights be off completely. A lot of people accuse him of faking a cry on tour, and no doubt he did, but the wane in his voice you hear in the climax is absolutely real. Michael had very specific studio conditions he wanted, including some weird thing about the smell of a rainforest at night. A fog machine was even brought in!

Reddit User: I'm a bit surprised at those studio conditions. Wonder why rain forest exactly?

Arnold: I think it was just part of his vision. In the video it's something like that, but then again, I haven't seen it in 20+ years. I know at its core he wanted immersion, to feel like he where he wanted to be, to fully bring out whatever was inside of him that he wanted to come out.

 

Caryn Elefante, singer, “Elefante Music” blog (July 9, 2009) (archived)

One day, my mother got a call from our contractor booking us for a recording at the Hit Factory. We weren't allowed to know for whom we were singing and we were only allowed one parent per child. Our interest was peaked. We spent the next few days trying to figure out who this mystery recording could be for. We decided to bring three CD covers with us- Frank Sinatra (he was still alive at the time), Madonna and Michael Jackson.

We went to the studio and some guy told us we were going to be singing one word... "Childhood". He sang it for us once or twice then began recording. All we heard in the cans (headphones) were tracks with no lead vocal. We still couldn't figure out what or whom this was for. After singing the one word a few times, I saw a man behind the glass in the recording studio step forward out of the darkness with a black hat, a red shirt and a black curl in front of his face. On the talkback we heard, "Can you sing it a little more like this... Childhood" As soon as I heard the voice I grabbed my sister's hand and spoke without moving my lips "It's MICHAEL JACKSON!!!!"

I cooly sang "Childhood" about a dozen more times and the engineer thanked us and said we were done. We went back to the green room where our parents were waiting and I grabbed the Bad album cover from my mom and brought it to Michael's assistant. I asked her if she could please bring it to Michael and have him sign it. The other kids who sang with us began ripping little pieces of paper for him to sign. They were nowhere near as prepared as my family!!

The assistant said "Let me see what I can do", and she disappeared for about five minutes. She came back and said, "Can I have all of the kids follow me?" We followed her to a door in the Hit Factory that had a star on it and said "Jackson". We went into the room and there he was, greeting us at the door with a handshake and a smile and telling us that it was a pleasure to meet us. Can you imagine? A pleasure to meet us?? His room was filled with some pretty strange things: life-size cut-outs of the Power Rangers, a train set, and a giant globe that rotated. He had pictures of children that he had helped attached to the country they were from.

Michael had many questions for us like if any of us went to camp for the summer. He said that he always asked his parents if he could go to summer camp because it looked like so much fun and of course they told him no!! This was right around the time when the media was questioning whether or not he had married Lisa Marie Presley. I noticed a ring on his hand and I said, "so does that ring mean you are married to Lisa Marie?" He nodded his head yes and said "shhhhhh". We chatted for a while, he signed our album cover and we went home having what I thought was the greatest day of my life.