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Come Together: The Beatles Vs. Michael Jackson

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Lyric Williams
Mr. Podeschi
Brit. Lit
End-of-Year Research Paper
8 May 2023
Come Together: The Beatles vs. Michael Jackson When you think of the song “Come Together” do you think of the original 1969 version performed by The Beatles, or perhaps, you think of the cover performed by Michael Jackson and released in 1995? There are several ideas and assumptions about the lyrics and subject matter as some of the lines are rather odd, for example, “He wear no shoe shine He got toe jam football”. Though the main consensus of the song is that it is heavily influenced by the drug usage of The Beatles during this time, more specifically John Lennon and his partner Yoko Ono.
“Come together, right now, over me”, the chorus penned by The Beatles leader, …show more content…

Leary asked if Lennon and the rest of the band would make a campaign song for him to use in his advertisements. While the group worked on getting Leary the song he requested, Leary was arrested for possession of marijuana in 1968. Lennon continued to work on the song though it would not be used in its original context. While still running his campaign Leary used the slogan “Come together, join the party”, thus the title of the song. Timothy Leary was a known advocate for drugs during this time and throughout the song there are many references to drugs. “He got monkey finger, He shoot Coca-Cola” is a lyric about doing heroin and cocaine. You are still able to find lyrics alluding to the initial purpose for Leary like, “He say ‘I know you, and you know me’ …show more content…

Jackson bought the rights to The Beatles catalog in1985 outbidding Paul McCartney himself. Jackson’s 1995 album consisted of 15 of Michael’s greatest hits up to date along with 15 other songs. Though the first time the public heard Jackson’s version of the song was eight years prior in the project “Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker”. In this cover of the song Jackson adds his distinctive style and signature flair. During the bridge of the song you can hear his recognizable “woo’s” and his hypnotic ad-libbing in the background. His energy shines through in this version of the song differentiating it from the

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