Earth Song
by Michael Jackson (1998)

The Lyrics

What about sunrise?
What about rain?
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain..?.
What about killing fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...?
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, its weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

What have we done to the world?
Look what we've done.
What about all the peace,
That you pledge your only son?
What about flowering fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the dreams,
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice,
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice,
This crying Earth its weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

Hey

what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about everything
(What about us)
I given you
(What about us)
What about nature's worth
(ooo, ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can't we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can't you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about baby boy
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the man
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn

Aaaaaaaaah Ooooooooh



 In this song, Michael Jackson not only addresses environmental issues such as deforestation and overfishing of the oceans, but also talks about other moral issues, for example how children die because of a war.

Jackson addresses these issues primarily through questions. He begins with very natural images, e.g. sunrise and rain. Thus he immediately seems to set the focus on appearances of nature. But he then contrasts this by the notion of killing fields, something very man-made. This is a first hint at human destructive power. This is not only limited to us humans, as one could assume at the first moment, but also concerns nature. A killing field can be a place of a war, and a place where we killed animals or destroyed nature in order for personal wealth, space and belongings. A killing field (of a war) looks often very devastated and desolate after the battle is over. Nature might look like this, too. Think of a newly logged area, for example. It looks exposed, injured, and defenceless. By combining these contrasting images, the beauty of a sunrise and the destructive power, Michael Jackson implies that this beauty might be gone soon, too, as we apparently do not stop to destroy everything and everyone around us. We even do not protect ourselves. And “the blood we’ve shed before” can be meant literally as well as metaphorically. First, there is the real blood due to wars and hunts; second, blood can also be a metaphor for guilt, for what we have done to the Earth.

It is very interesting to see that Michael Jackson addresses God with all his questions. Especially the lines “That you said we were to gain,” That you said was yours and mine,” and “that you pledge your only son” in the next stanza indicate this. However, it is still a very self-centered approach since he says that we “were to gain” “things” like sunrise and rain. I wonder how we can ever “gain” them. It is nothing we can possess.  At the same time, the killing fields are also referred to as something that was supposed to be “yours and mine.” When he asks “Did you ever stop to notice/ All the blood we’ve shed before/ Did you ever stop to notice/ This crying Earth, its weeping shores?” does he ask God why we possess such a destructive force at all, why God allows these things to happen in the world he created?

These lines are part of the refrain. Line three and four are repeated in the second stanza, line two is changed to “All the children dead from war” and thus creates a direct connection to the “all the blood we’ve shed before.” By talking about children, Michael Jackson introduces the idea of innocence. Children are involved in something without being asked; they are killed without being guilty. And so is nature. Both children and nature are unable to defend themselves.

As in “The Landscape is changing” by Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson also admits the Earth to have emotions and the ability to express them as the shores are “weeping.” The effect of this is explained on the "The Landscape is changing" page. 

Though Michael Jackson speaks to God, as in a prayer or a lament, I wonder if he does not address us, too. If we destroyed (and still destroy) our world, it is our task to recognize it, to stop it, and to do everything possible to recoup it. But to get there, we have to “notice” it first. Additionally, this conflation of God and Humans can be a further hint to how we see ourselves. We gained power over nature, we often regard ourselves as superior, and we have the power to destroy. We are conquerors of the earth rather than equal members. In this, we have made ourselves godlike. Later in the song, Michael Jackson says “What about everything/ I’ve given you.” There, the conflation between God and Humans becomes even stronger. 

The lament of how we act with regard to the natural world  is continued in the second stanza, where Michael Jackson explicitly asks what we have done to the world. He definitely does not mean anything positive. The next two lines (“What about all the peace/ That you pledge your only son?”) indicate that there is no peace at all; it is a rhetoric question, some sort of horror or formidable cognition.  Again, this is contrasted by “flowering fields” and dreams, but the frame and the time (past tense) show that they have gone, they are memories. This is repeated in the fourth stanza: “I used to dream/ I used to glance beyond the stars.” I understand this in a rather metaphoric way: to glance beyond the stars means high ambitions and ideals. However, it can also be interpreted more literally. The stars have long been points of reference, but since we polluted the air, an orientation is much more difficult than centuries ago. Jackson further says that “Now I don’t know where we are/ Although I know we’ve drifted far.” This can be directly referred to the lost reference points and the involved disorientation. We went astray, we lost the way of a closer connection to nature (we can’t even see the stars). In a lot of cities, it has become reality that stars are not visible because of all the artificial lights (advertisement, street lamps etc.). Going back to the idea of high ambitions and ideals, Michael Jackson’s words could also be interpreted in the way that he argues that there are no ideals at all, or at least no ideals that allow a close connection to nature. By saying that we’ve drifted far, he makes clear that there has to be a right way, a solution. This right way is his idealistic vision of a world without war, injustice, and harm, a world in which we treat everything and everyone respectfully, other humans as well as nature. A world of peace.

His longing for such a world is further expressed in the line “Is there a time.” He asks if there has ever been a time without destruction, war, and exploitation of nature, and/or if there will ever be such a world in the future. By encompassing past, present, and future, he shows that this idea, this time of a world in peace perhaps never existed. Maybe we were told so, but upon examination, Michael Jackson (and we humans) has to find out that it does not. The question “is there a time” is thus the harmful recognition of something inexistent.

In the last part of the song, he addresses a lot of issues, so I will only discuss some major points. He speaks about “nature’s worth” and that it is “our planet’s womb.” I think this is a beautiful and apposite statement. As a womb is the place of a new life, nature constantly gives live. For example, it supplies us with our food, and forests clean the air.

There are also some religious, biblical references. He speaks about the “holy land/ Torn apart by creed.”  Although this does not have anything to do with the environmental issues he talks about before (e.g. deforestation, air pollution, and overfishing), it sketches our moral behavior. Without any respect for the “holy land,” we destroyed it because of personal interests and opinions. We did not pay attention to other people’s feelings and attitude. Our relation to nature could be seen in the same way. Narrow-minded and only interested in our opinion, we destroy and exploit nature, and do not listen to its demands.

The very last line (except for the refrain) is important: “Do we give a damn.” This is the overall question. Even if we are aware of the (not only environmental) issues around us, do we care? Are we doing anything to prevent them? 



The Music

 The song opens with a harp arpeggio, often associated with wind, and the soundscape of a forest: birds’ twittering and soft rustling of wind in the trees. It resembles of meditative music, and immediately creates a peaceful, relaxed atmosphere. Then a piano starts playing an intro, still very soft and calm. It sets the tonal center, G minor. In general, minor is often referred to as a sad, depressive and melancholic key, thus the chosen minor key emphasizes the lament later in the lyrics.

Harmonic structure

The harmonic structure of the song is pretty simple: main chords are tonic (I), subdominant (IV), and dominant (V). Though the song begins with a harmonic order that is similar to a “classical” cadenza (I, IV, I, IV, I, IV, V), the final solution (I) of the cadenza is omitted. This goes along with the question “What about all the things that you said we were to gain.” The open ending of the cadenza, the non-solution supports the inquiring character of the lyrics. Furthermore, the open ending hints at the idea that there might not be an easy solution at all for the questions and issues addressed in the song. As it is common, the dominants are all major dominants instead of minor dominants. This creates a bit more positive moment, but the open character is nonetheless still there. The structure gets a little bit more complex at the transition between strophe and refrain, and the last chord before the refrain is a dominant-seventh. Dominant-seventh always have an even more open character than a dominant, and almost “force” dissolution/ resolution. However, this option is neglected again, and thus the question “Did you ever stop to notice/ The crying Earth, the weeping shores?” is mirrored in the music.

The refrain itself repeats the harmonic structure of the first strophe, and so does the second stanza. There is always the combination of tension and relaxation, but the relaxation is a fake one because there is never a clear solution. It is rather a new start, a new attempt, as if Michael Jackson wants to emphasize his wish for a second chance in the way we treat nature.

The bridge after the second chorus starts with a C minor chord (IV), and thus creates a connection between the lines  about the blood shed and that the dreams in the past. This harmonic connection indicates that the dreams are now impossible because of the human guilt. Likewise, this part again ends on a dominant-seventh, which further connects the statement that “we’ve drifted far” to the Earth’s “weeping shores.” It is made clear that the way we have gone is the wrong way because it treats the world badly. All this is expressed through simple harmonic structure and repetition.

The last part of the song is a modulation, or, to be more precise, an abrupt shift in tonality: instead of G minor, there is A minor. It is only slightly prepared by an increasing volume of the background chords. This sudden change from one harmony to the other has a dramatic and emotional effect, but it must be said that this shift is very common in popular music nowadays.

The song ends on an E major chord, the dominant of A minor. Even at the very end, there is no solution. This matches the question “do we give a damn?” It is a question without an answer, and as Michael Jackson himself does not give any answer, explanation or solution in his lyrics, there is no overall solution in the text as well. 

 Instrumentation

The music mostly consists of piano accompaniment, string chords, some insertions by guitar, and drums. As I already said, the song opens with this natural allusion and soft piano music. When Michael Jackson starts to sing, the piano only plays chords, so the focus is really set on the voice and the lyrics. Later, strings add a tapestry of sounds by playing long, soft chords. In the refrain, these chords are also sung by a background choir, but still very quiet.

The song then constantly gains intensity. For example, the strings play from the very beginning of the second stanza, and there are percussion sounds, too. The most impressive movement, however, is when the background choir turns out to be a gospel choir. In a call and response mode, Michael Jackson and the choir interact in the second part of the song. He asks all the questions, whereas the choir again and again repeats “what about us?” This serves several purposes: first, the “we” of the song is now given a voice, i.e. a lot of voices who all want to know the same. It could emphasize the selfish approach given in the first stanza as the voices are only interested in themselves. At the same time, this plays with the conflation of God and Humans in an irritating way because Michael Jackson is suddenly disconnected to the other humans. Remember the notion that he says “What about everything/ I’ve given you.” The music further supports the idea that he becomes even more godlike than mankind in general. Second, the call and response element reminds of gospel traditions and religion, and strengthens the impression that the lyrics are kind of a doleful prayer. Michael Jackson suddenly becomes an almost preacher-like figure, and the choir the community. In some sense, he is a preacher because he tries to raise awareness of the way we deal with our world, and he wants to convince us that the direction we are going is the wrong one. 

 
The Video

 The beginning of the video shows a tropical forest, animals, and the sun shining through gaps in the canopy of leaves. This supports the natural, peaceful mood of the music (the birds’ twittering etc.). But at the moment the piano music starts, there is a logging machine, cutting down the trees. The next image is the disturbing vision of a logged area, where only tree trunks are left and small remains of fires. All the green of the former image is gone, the dominating colors are dark, and the sky is red. This contrasts the lyrics, in which Michael Jackson sings about sunrises and rain. And though there is a red sky, it is not due to a natural event but because of fire. And there is no rain to put it out. Thus nature is helpless and powerless against human destruction.

Then a dead elephant without its tusks is shown. As Michael Jackson talks about killing fields at this very moment, the idea comes up that the killing field not only refers to human wars but also to places where animals are killed or trees are logged (see above in the lyrics section). The animal is watched by African people in traditional clothing, in the same way as indigenous people helplessly and shocked have to see the logging of the forest. By only showing natives who are directly concerned so far, the Video indicates that mainly Western developed countries and cultures are to blame for the destruction, but they are ‘invisible.’

The refrain alternately presents Michael Jackson who is wandering through the logged area and impressions of stunned indigenous people, as well as pictures of animals (zebras, giraffes) from Africa.

In contrast to this, the next sequence shows people, probably from Eastern Europe, who have to leave their cities destroyed by a war. The buildings are only ruins, and the streets are full of debris, and the air is dusty. As in the beginning of the video, the destructive power is only represented through machines (i.e. an armor), but it is never given a face. When Michael Jackson reminds of the children who died in a war, there is the image of a small broken bicycle, and a father’s memory of a day when his daughter run to the bike. But shortly before the girl arrives at the bike, there is a bright light, so I wonder if this might allude to a landmine. The pictures of a war support the idea that the question for peace is a rhetoric one, a quest for something that does not exist (at this moment of the song).

One motive that is constantly repeated is how people around the world fall to their knees, as in an act of praying, and start digging into the earth with their hands. But the earth is dry, and they cannot hold it. The earth has become a hostile place.

The moment the music changes the key, there is a “magic” moment in the video: a strong wind starts blowing, and the facial expressions of the people show that this must be something good. From now on, time goes backwards. The killed elephant stands up, the shot man opens his eye, and the logged tree is again connected to its trump. The wind is so strong that everyone has to cling to something.

All this happens during the call and response part of the song. As the video shows how different poeple suffer from human destructive power, the question “what about us?” does not seem so selfish anymore. It is the helpless cry of peoples who have been treated so badly and unjustly. The choir now presents the voices of all those people. As they had to watch the destruction of their living space without being able to do anything against it, they are more alike to nature, which also cannot resist when humans decide to destroy it.

The video closes with an image of a slightly foggy valley. By including this backward movement, this shift in time, Michael Jackson refers to the line “Is there a time?” The video thus presents a solution, the possibility to put the wheel of history into reverse. It offers a chance which the music and the lyrics neglect. 

 
Lyrics, music, and the video work hand in hand. Every layer adds something to the overall meaning, and some interpretations are only possible by considering at least two of them at the same time.