"Girlfriend" is a song by English rock band Wings, from their 1978 album '' London Town''. It was written by Wings frontman Paul McCartney, who originally intended it to be sung by Michael Jackson. Jackson then covered the song the following year on his 1979 album ''

Off the Wall ''Off the Wall'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on August 10, 1979, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's first album released through Epic Records, the label he recorded under until his death in 2009, and t ...

'', and in 1980 it was released (in the UK only) as the 5th and final single of that album.

Background

McCartney thought of "Girlfriend" as a song that Michael Jackson might like to record, and mentioned this to Jackson at a party in Hollywood. Jackson had stated in interviews with the music press in the 1970s that he was a fan of the Beatles and the chance to record a McCartney original helped to inspire his next project. However, McCartney ended up recording it himself with his band Wings, and it was issued in 1978 on the album '' London Town''. Michael always said that he wrote the song for a platonic love "Paul and me... well... we wrote this song for my crush, she is a gorgeous singer, foreign and it is even better, you know?, because she has no idea of my feelings, and you don't know how I long to do what I say... I will never say her name, would be a crime"... '' Kingsport Times-News'' critic Michael Clark regarded the song as the better of the two

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' sendups on ''London Town'', " With a Little Luck" being the other. He also regarded it as one of the two best songs on the album, along with " I've Had Enough," praising the "light, bouncy melody" and the

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

singing added to the "sweet backing harmonies" whenever the word "girlfriend" is sung. On the other hand, ''

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'' critic Henry McNulty regarded it as one of the Wings' weakest songs since " Wild Life", criticising its harmonies and lyrics, and finding only the "mildly exciting guitar line" to be worthy of even faint praise. Quincy Jones heard the song and suggested it as a possible track for Jackson to record for his 1979 album ''

'', not aware that the song had been written for Jackson in the first place. Jackson's recording omitted the middle eight heard in McCartney's version. It was issued exclusively in the UK in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, as the fifth and final single from the ''Off the Wall'' album. This proved to be another hit single for Jackson and one of his first recordings of a Paul McCartney song. McCartney and Jackson subsequently worked together on " The Girl Is Mine" from Jackson's ''

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'', as well as " Say Say Say" and "The Man", from McCartney's '' Pipes of Peace''. In 1985, Jackson acquired the ATV Music Publishing catalog (which held the rights to nearly every Beatles song) uncontested by McCartney. According to McCartney, they "drifted apart" after he talked to Jackson about getting a "raise" and Jackson did not act on it.

Personnel

* Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, electric piano, synthesizers, possible piano *

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

– keyboards, backing vocals * Denny Laine – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals, possible piano

Michael Jackson version

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'' said that Jackson's version was "rendered brilliantly." *Produced by Quincy Jones *Recorded and Mixed by Bruce Swedien *Lead and background vocals: Michael Jackson *Bass: Louis Johnson *Drums:

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*Electric piano: Greg Phillinganes *Synthesizer: David Foster,

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

*Synthesizer programming:

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

and

*Guitar: Wah Wah Watson and

Marlo Henderson Marlo Henderson was an American guitarist and saxophonist, who played in mainly blues and R&B genres. As a session musician he played on albums such as ''Off the Wall'' by Michael Jackson, '' Them Changes'' by Buddy Miles, '' Face to Face'' by ...

*Horns arranged by Jerry Hey and performed by The Seawind Horns: **Trumpet and flugelhorn: Jerry Hey **Tenor, alto saxophones and flute: Larry Williams **Baritone, tenor saxophones and flute: Kim Hutchcroft **Trombone: William Reichenbach **Trumpet: Gary Grant *Alto sax solo: Larry Williams *Rhythm arrangement by Quincy Jones, Tom Bahler and Greg Phillinganes *Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones

References

External links

Lyrics from Paul McCartney's official site
{{authority control 1978 songs 1980 singles Michael Jackson songs Paul McCartney songs Paul McCartney and Wings songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Pop ballads Rhythm and blues ballads Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones Epic Records singles Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Music published by MPL Music Publishing 1970s ballads