Ben (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Ben" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Michael Jackson | ||
| from the album Ben | ||
| Released | 1972 | |
| Recorded | 1972 | |
| Genre | Bubblegum pop/Soul | |
| Label | Motown | |
| Writer(s) | Don Black and Walter Scharf | |
| Producer(s) | The Corporation™: Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards and Berry Gordy, Jr | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Michael Jackson singles chronology | ||
| "Ain't No Sunshine" (1972) |
"Ben" (1972) |
"With a Child's Heart" (1973) |
| Audio sample | ||
| Play (in browser) (help·info) | ||
"Ben" was a number-one hit recording by a teenaged Michael Jackson for the Motown label in 1972. The song, the theme of a 1972 film of the same name (the sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie Willard), spent one week at the top of the U.S. charts. It also reached number seven in the United Kingdom.
The song became the first of thirteen number-one pop hits for Jackson in the United States and his first number one as a solo artist.
Later included on Jackson's album of the same name, "Ben" won a Golden Globe for Best Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The song was covered by Crispin Glover to coincide with the remake of Ben's prequel, Willard. The song is featured in a bizarre music video featuring Glover and R. Lee Ermey.
[edit] Trivia
- Though Jackson had already become the youngest artist to record a number one ("I Want You Back" with his brothers, The Jackson 5, in 1970), "Ben" made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a number one hit single. Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when "Fingertips, Pt. 2" went to number one, and Donny Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when "Go Away Little Girl" hit number one in 1971 were younger.
- Jackson performed "Ben" in front of a live audience at the Academy Awards ceremony, where it was up for the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1973.
- The song was once performed at a ballet competition, where performers danced to nothing but songs from Motown.
- A short version of the song was featured in the Simpsons episode "Stark Raving Dad" in 1991, where Jackson guest-starred as a fat mental patient. However, due to contractual obligations with his record company, Jackson was not allowed to sing in the episode, so an impersonator was hired to do his singing parts, which included short versions of "Billie Jean" and "Ben". Jackson is credited in the episode under the pseudonym of John Jay Smith.
- The band Pearl Jam makes a reference to the song "Ben" on their 1993 album Vs. on the song "Rats," with the line "Ben, the two of us need look no more" repeated several times at the end the track.
- It has also been covered by the Irish group Boyzone on the album A Different Beat
- The song was featured in the TV movie Wedding Wars, sung by John Stamos's character at the wedding of his brother, Ben, and backed by a gay men's chorus.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" by Mac Davis |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single October 14, 1972 |
Succeeded by "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry |
