State of Independence

But that's not the song Quincy Jones name-checked when he claimed that Michael Jackson stole a lot of songs.

[upbeat music] The song Quincy Jones name-checked as an example of Michael Jackson being a creative thief is Donna Summer's State of Independence, which has a bass line that turns up again in Michael's Billie Jean.

As Quincy said, "The notes don't lie, man." Now, if the Billie Jean bass line is stolen from State of Independence, it's not immediately recognizable.

The tempo of the song is radically different, and the feel of State of Independence is more reggae than it is disco-influenced pop.

This one isn't as blatant as Michael's theft in Wanna Be Startin' Somethin.' In fact, I can barely hear it, and Donna Summer never sued Michael Jackson.

This is an example of the artist working his inspiration into the whole of his work rather than being as Machiavellian as they come, as Quincy Jones said about Michael Jackson.

That's a direct quote.

He said that Michael stole the bassline for Billie Jean from Donna Summer's State of Independence, and that, "The notes don't lie, man." That's what Quincy said about Michael Jackson.

He also claimed that Frank Sinatra was the reason that he, Quincy Jones, knew exactly who killed John F. Kennedy.

So was Quincy Jones arguably the greatest producer of all time? Was he lying? Was he, was he lying about these musical crimes, fraud, theft, murder, about The Beatles, about Michael Jackson, about Sinatra? Uh, we're gonna find out in this upcoming episode, and we're gonna get into Q's life, just an incredible life.

It's a sprawling spiritual electronic epic.

Let's listen to Donna Summer's spectacular interpretation of State of Independence.

So this is a really fun one.

What you just heard is a track that carries one of the most absurdly star-studded credit lists in music history, even if most of them never made it to the front cover.

State of Independence was not an original track written for Summer.

It was actually penned by prog rock vocalist John Anderson and Greek synthesizer god Vangelis for their 1981 collaborative album The Friends of Mr Cairo.

who, as the OGs of this pod might remember, we met in the very first proper episode of this podcast.

However, across the Atlantic, the reception was far more enthusiastic.