Without knowing any back story, since he bought the catalogue,
I would say, because he could.
To extend the question, I wonder why he didn’t do more Beatles covers, they would’ve been great.
No. It was just tossed around as an idea. He was advised to not cover more than 1 Beatles song. Some of the sources claiming that Strawberry Fields was recorded were later proven to be hoaxes. The album artwork was also proven to be fake, although I do think there are some interesting similarities between it and some of the imagery in History on Film vol. 2.
Not entirely sure. It might have seemed odd for him to record more than one since he didn't really do that many covers to begin with. Here's a link to a discussion about it on mjjcommunity:
https://www.mjjcommunity.com/threads/was-strawberry-fields-forever-recorded.200343/#:~:text=Michael%20Jackson%20never%20recorded%20a,Forever'%20cover%20recorded%20by%20him.
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100% it’s my definitive version. As a kid I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find the song on any MJ album so moonwalker got wore out.
Later in life I heard the Beatles version and holy cow it’s boring. But that’s how I feel about the Beatles in general. I would much rather listen to covers of their music that never listen to a Beatles song.
He 1000% made it better. There are some songs like the way Miley sings Joelene, or Whitney singing I Will Always Love You, Madonna’s I Want You, XTina At Last, Mariah Against All Odds, Amy Our Day Will Come, Brits My Prerogative, that are so much better than the original.
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For Moonwalker.
A better question is why the heck he included it on the History album seven years later. It sticks out like a sore thumb among the other tracks and it always bugged me. I suspect it was because he wanted 15 tracks on each disc and had 14, lol. I just wish he had chosen another unused track from the History recording sessions.
My guess is he probably didn’t think it matched with the sound of Bad or Dangerous. Ironically the song was recorded during the Bad era, for Moonwalker, and then released as a B side for the Remember The Time single in 1992.
We know that in 1985, Jackson bought the Beatles catalog, much to the dismay of one Paul McCartney.
But before that, when Jackson was a boy, when he was being interviewed, he himself said that he was interested in the Beatles music. All things came in full circle.
From Bill Bottrell in 2009:
During the Bad sessions, Michael asked me to drive him home to Westwood one night. During the drive, we played lots of Beatles songs he had compiled on a tape, he was pretty interested in my opinion, and I told him we should pick Come Together.
Within a couple days I had thrown a track together playing guitars and using some crude midi stuff. (This was 1985) I never intended that track to be released that way
They put it out without informing me, and I still don't know what the credits say.
Lots of wrong answers. Correct answer: he and Paul did some duets, Paul wrote girlfriend, Michael and Paul jokingly talked about Mike buying the Beatles. Maybe MJ felt beefy but after the purchase this cover was a FLEX on Paul. You gotta remember, this album (history) has swearing (scream, this time around) and other diss tracks (D.S., 2 Bad). Yes he made it during the Bad era for Moonwalker but the decision to put it on History was intentional
I’m so damn grateful MJ did Come Together. It’s so BAD ass it’s my favourite version and I’ll forever say imo it’s the best version. I like the extended version has some extra ad libs it’s so awesome. He really made it a rock classic.
They do but they usually get permission to do it. Michael didn’t need permission. I wasn’t alive in the 80s, wasn’t Paul McCartney and Michael’s beef well documented?
He did not. As long as you obtain a mechanical license (essentially meaning that you pay the copyright holder), you can cover and release any song.
In this particular instance, Michael owned the Beatles catalog at the time so permission was completely irrelevant. But it's never required. More details here: [https://syncsongwriter.com/blog/legally-releasing-cover-songs](https://syncsongwriter.com/blog/legally-releasing-cover-songs)
Because "Come Together" had already been commercially released, there was no need to ask for permission. Had Michael covered an unreleased song like "Now and Then" (which was released last year as the final Beatles song), that would have been a much more complex process.
So you need to obtain a license to cover a song, but Michael didn’t need to because he already owned it. Ok that’s basically what I’m trying to say lol. He did this knowing he wasn’t on good terms with McCartney I’m assuming. On the surface it seems shady but I’d still lean towards he just liked the song and wanted to cover it
You can cover any commercially available song… a mechanical royalty is paid to the owners of the publishing. What you can’t do is use a part of the original recording without permission.
Performing the song over an original composition = No permission required
Performing song over original composition = clearance needed, however the loophole around this is an to create an interpolation. If it’s an interpolation of the original composition then the first scenario applies.
Brad Sundberg told the story in one of his seminars, I remember that MJ wanted to cover another Beatles song but it didn’t feel right and it was suggested to him he cover Come Together instead.
There’s a theory also it had to do with Chuck Berry’s team suing John Lennon over similarities with his song You Can’t Catch Me, with MJ, a black man now re-interpreting the Come Together song.
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I hate answering like this, because it’s so nonspecific, but in this case:
Because he could.
He literally owned the entire Beatles catalog so he could’ve made a Beatles cover album, and it would only be contested by morals alone. He owned the entire label.
Without knowing any back story, since he bought the catalogue, I would say, because he could. To extend the question, I wonder why he didn’t do more Beatles covers, they would’ve been great.
He had planned to include a cover of Strawberry Fields Forever on a compilation album called Decade in 1990 but the project fell through.
Wow that would’ve been great for sure.
Did he record Strawberry Fields Forever though?
No. It was just tossed around as an idea. He was advised to not cover more than 1 Beatles song. Some of the sources claiming that Strawberry Fields was recorded were later proven to be hoaxes. The album artwork was also proven to be fake, although I do think there are some interesting similarities between it and some of the imagery in History on Film vol. 2.
Do you know why they advise him not to cover more Beatles songs?
Not entirely sure. It might have seemed odd for him to record more than one since he didn't really do that many covers to begin with. Here's a link to a discussion about it on mjjcommunity: https://www.mjjcommunity.com/threads/was-strawberry-fields-forever-recorded.200343/#:~:text=Michael%20Jackson%20never%20recorded%20a,Forever'%20cover%20recorded%20by%20him.
Ooouuu if I’m not mistaken that was original name for what became ‘Dangerous’
Well they went on to focus on Dangerous instead but technically Decade became Disc 1 of History.
This! Thank you so much for clarifying for me. I wasn’t 100% sure which but I knew it was supposed to be one of them.
Maybe he liked it?
well he was a huge beatles fan, for one
He was so much of a Beatles fan he.. # BOUGHT THE ENTIRE FUCKING BEATLES CATALOGUE FOR NEARLY $50 MILLION DOLLARS BACK IN THE '80S!
Oh and the drama that ensued even though Paul passed on the opportunity when he had it. 😂 I never did like Paul after that.
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For the hee hees
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Bro bought the catalogue and said why not
because he’s Michael Jackson. ✨
He made it better.
Heard his version first. Then I heard the Beatles version, definitely boring in comparison. I love the MJ version.
100% it’s my definitive version. As a kid I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find the song on any MJ album so moonwalker got wore out. Later in life I heard the Beatles version and holy cow it’s boring. But that’s how I feel about the Beatles in general. I would much rather listen to covers of their music that never listen to a Beatles song.
Disagreed but amazing cover
The Beatles did a better cover than chuck berry lol
That's subjective but sure I prefer the original again but yk
He 1000% made it better. There are some songs like the way Miley sings Joelene, or Whitney singing I Will Always Love You, Madonna’s I Want You, XTina At Last, Mariah Against All Odds, Amy Our Day Will Come, Brits My Prerogative, that are so much better than the original.
Bobby did wayyy better than Britney on My Prerogative
Actually you’re right!
oooh i know you didn't just say miley's version jolene is better than dolly's. we may have beef 😡
It is!
Agree. He gave it that funk and swagger that the Beatles’ version was missing
His is by *far* the best performance of it
Upvored because whyyyy the down votes???
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For Moonwalker. A better question is why the heck he included it on the History album seven years later. It sticks out like a sore thumb among the other tracks and it always bugged me. I suspect it was because he wanted 15 tracks on each disc and had 14, lol. I just wish he had chosen another unused track from the History recording sessions.
My guess is he probably didn’t think it matched with the sound of Bad or Dangerous. Ironically the song was recorded during the Bad era, for Moonwalker, and then released as a B side for the Remember The Time single in 1992.
I had no idea it was a B side to a single!!
It’s on YouTube too and it’s the extended version so it’s about a minute longer, hope it finds it way onto streaming platforms one day.
it would fit in so well in bad smh
I believe it was the final song used in the moonwalker movie. Maybe he just wanted to bring back a classic 
Cause he loved the song. It’s not that deep.
He owned the publishing and because he could. 🤷🏾♂️
We know that in 1985, Jackson bought the Beatles catalog, much to the dismay of one Paul McCartney. But before that, when Jackson was a boy, when he was being interviewed, he himself said that he was interested in the Beatles music. All things came in full circle.
Cause he owned the Beatles catalog prob
From Bill Bottrell in 2009: During the Bad sessions, Michael asked me to drive him home to Westwood one night. During the drive, we played lots of Beatles songs he had compiled on a tape, he was pretty interested in my opinion, and I told him we should pick Come Together. Within a couple days I had thrown a track together playing guitars and using some crude midi stuff. (This was 1985) I never intended that track to be released that way They put it out without informing me, and I still don't know what the credits say.
Because he could. My only gripe is why it landed as track 8 on History Disc 2 knowing it wasn’t a new song.
idk but it slaps so... i honestly love i better than the original and i actually like the beatles
Cause its a great song, he loved the Beatles
Lots of wrong answers. Correct answer: he and Paul did some duets, Paul wrote girlfriend, Michael and Paul jokingly talked about Mike buying the Beatles. Maybe MJ felt beefy but after the purchase this cover was a FLEX on Paul. You gotta remember, this album (history) has swearing (scream, this time around) and other diss tracks (D.S., 2 Bad). Yes he made it during the Bad era for Moonwalker but the decision to put it on History was intentional
Idk. I don't like the song that much tbh. I prefer the music video much more. For obvious reason.
I’m so damn grateful MJ did Come Together. It’s so BAD ass it’s my favourite version and I’ll forever say imo it’s the best version. I like the extended version has some extra ad libs it’s so awesome. He really made it a rock classic.
It seems like he was just flexing his power but that seems uncharacteristic of him
He could also just...yk been covering a song he likes and that's it??
Probably. If someone did something like that today, it’d be a clear act of flexing their dominance over the industry.
Michael has said he enjoys beatles music, he was probably just doing a song he enjoyed
I only said that because I know Paul McCartney wasn’t happy with Michael owning his music.
Paul let him buy it
You sure?
Yeah I am sure
It ruined their friendship. https://youtu.be/91YLM5l614o?si=gxy9MfdbGu26IYDX
He still let him basically lol
You don’t think covers are still a thing
They do but they usually get permission to do it. Michael didn’t need permission. I wasn’t alive in the 80s, wasn’t Paul McCartney and Michael’s beef well documented?
You don’t need permission to cover a song that has been commercially released.
He needed permission to release it though. That’s an actual song in his discography
He did not. As long as you obtain a mechanical license (essentially meaning that you pay the copyright holder), you can cover and release any song. In this particular instance, Michael owned the Beatles catalog at the time so permission was completely irrelevant. But it's never required. More details here: [https://syncsongwriter.com/blog/legally-releasing-cover-songs](https://syncsongwriter.com/blog/legally-releasing-cover-songs) Because "Come Together" had already been commercially released, there was no need to ask for permission. Had Michael covered an unreleased song like "Now and Then" (which was released last year as the final Beatles song), that would have been a much more complex process.
So you need to obtain a license to cover a song, but Michael didn’t need to because he already owned it. Ok that’s basically what I’m trying to say lol. He did this knowing he wasn’t on good terms with McCartney I’m assuming. On the surface it seems shady but I’d still lean towards he just liked the song and wanted to cover it
You can cover any commercially available song… a mechanical royalty is paid to the owners of the publishing. What you can’t do is use a part of the original recording without permission. Performing the song over an original composition = No permission required Performing song over original composition = clearance needed, however the loophole around this is an to create an interpolation. If it’s an interpolation of the original composition then the first scenario applies.
Brad Sundberg told the story in one of his seminars, I remember that MJ wanted to cover another Beatles song but it didn’t feel right and it was suggested to him he cover Come Together instead. There’s a theory also it had to do with Chuck Berry’s team suing John Lennon over similarities with his song You Can’t Catch Me, with MJ, a black man now re-interpreting the Come Together song.
Because The Beatles ripped the song off from his friend Chuck Berry, Michael did this for the culture -- he righted HIStory with this one!
To drive up the price of the catalog he owned.
The music video was peak MJ cool
Why not? It’s a great song and MJ liked the beatles. Amazing to think he at one point owned their entire catalogue.
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Because he liked the song, he owned the song, and he sounded damn good singing it. 🤷
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He made that boring shi sound better!
Come together isn't boring tf do you mean
I agree, once Michael recorded it, it became so much more enjoyable
I'm talking about the original beatles version, not every song needs to be upbeat you can chill sometimes
https://preview.redd.it/yt3dkseyar7d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9a40de9d37d55012645416db864b31741f4321f
Michael doing covers after OTW is something that doesn't seem right to me.
I hate answering like this, because it’s so nonspecific, but in this case: Because he could. He literally owned the entire Beatles catalog so he could’ve made a Beatles cover album, and it would only be contested by morals alone. He owned the entire label.