Human Nature Vs I No Get Eye For Back

Michael Jackson, Fela Kuti

THE KING MEETS THE PRESIDENT IN AFRICA

Atop a hypnotic music bed mashed from both tunes—with a particularly effective use of the horns from Fela’s “I No Get Eye…” as a refrain—Jackson floats his gentle yet insistent probes about human nature: “Why, why…do they do me that way?” But the probing takes on a more disturbing context when mashed up. For not only is Fela’s “I No Get Eye For Back” a metaphoric lament about betrayal, it also evolved from a lyric in another Fela tune, “Alagabon Close,” which targeted the police at the notorious Alagabon station after Fela was detained there. In Fela’s representation, the police there delighted in brutality and dehumanization. An with those narratives now floating in the stew—betrayal, brutality—Jackson’s musings as to the nature of humanity take on an entirely new, and unsettling, context. - Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

 

Michael Jackson - "Human Nature"

 

Verse 1

Looking out

Across the night-time

The city winks a sleepless eye

Hear her voice

Shake my window

Sweet seducing sighs 

 

Get me out

Into the night-time

Four walls won't hold me tonight

If this town

Is just an apple

Then let me take a bite

 

Chorus

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

 

Verse 2

Reaching out

To touch a stranger

Electric eyes are everywhere

See that girl

She knows I'm watching

She likes the way I stare

 

Chorus

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

I like livin' this way

I like lovin' this way

 

(instrumental section) 

 

Verse 3

Looking out

Across the morning

The city's heart begins to beat

Reaching out

I touch her shoulder

I'm dreaming of the street

 

Chorus

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

If they say -

Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why, does he do me that way

I like livin' this way

 

(Repeat Chorus - Ad-lib/fade-out)

 

Fela Kuti - "I No Get Eye For Back"