Michael Jackson with Paul McCartney
Written and composed by Michael Jackson
Produced by Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson
Featured on Thriller
Released as a single Oct. 18, 1982.
Chart info: No. 2, Hot 100
No. 1, Soul Singles
In his storied career, Quincy Jones has worked with plenty of dynamic duos. In 1953, ace trumpeters Clifford Brown and Art Farmer joined forces on the Quincy-penned, arranged and conducted “Stockholm Sweetnin’.” A decade later, he conducted the velvety tones of Ella Fitzgerald with the big band sounds of Count Basie on “I’m Begging to See the Light.” A year later, Quincy arranged and conducted Basie and his orchestra, this time backing the unforgettable voice of Frank Sinatra on “Fly Me to the Moon.” And then there was the pairing of legendary Motown diva Diana Ross with star-on-the-rise Michael Jackson on “Ease on Down the Road” for film version of The Wiz in 1978.
Yet one of Quincy’s most famous pairings occurred four years later when he matched Jackson with Paul McCartney on the Jackson-penned tune “The Girl is Mine.” It was the first song recorded for the landmark Thriller album and helped grease the wheels that would drive Jackson to a new level of superstardom.
Prior to the collaboration, Quincy had some connection to the Beatles. He was friends with longtime Beatles producer George Martin and worked as an arranger on Ringo Starr’s 1970 solo debut Sentimental Journey. In 1971, when he was serving as the musical director of the Academy Awards, Q leapt out of the orchestra pit and bounded on stage to accept the Best Original Song Score for “Let It Be” on behalf of the Fab Four, who were not in attendance that evening.
Years later, Quincy had helped launch Michael Jackson to a new level of stardom with his stellar production of 1979’s Off the Wall. That album featured such hits as “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough,” “Rock with You” and the title track. The album’s final single, “Girlfriend,” was written by Paul McCartney, who also recorded a version of the song with his band Wings, but he did not appear on Jackson’s recorded version. While “Girlfriend” failed to become a hit, it paved the way for another Jackson-McCartney collaboration, “The Girl is Mine.” We’ll let Quincy pick up the story in his own words.
“Before we started on Thriller, I was working on Donna Summer’s second Geffen album. I thought it would take four months, but it went seven,” Quincy recalls. “In the middle of it, we took a break and Michael and I went to Tucson to Paul McCartney’s house to do ‘The Girl Is Mine’ because that was the only time he was in town. We only had three days. No matter what we were doing, we had to stop to get that record because it was import.”
The song, a light breezy number featuring Jackson’s playful verbal sparing with McCartney, concludes with a spoken exchange between the two singers, with Jackson famously declaring, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.” Released on Oct. 18, 1982, it reached number one Billboard’s Soul Singles chart and peaked at number two on the Hot 100.
Its success was welcomed, but it did create a minor problem. Quincy and Bruce Swedien were still mixing Thriller as the album’s first single was climbing the charts. “The made us a little nervous,” Quincy admits.
As everyone knows, Thriller ended up coming out just fine and went on to become the best-selling album of all time. Jackson returned the favor to McCartney a year later, guesting on his chart-topping single “Say Say Say,” produced by George Martin.
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