Ben by Michael JAckson

Ben

1972

Michael Jackson

Afore we get started on this one we need to school ourselves on a couple of interesting little facts about Michael Jackson's very first solo chart-topper. First off...'Ben' wasn't originally written for Michael Jackson. And second...and this one's a biggie...in this very moving, heart-felt ballad about friendship, MJ was singing to...wait for it...a rat.

Yep, you read that right. The titular Ben was a rat...literally, the four-legged giant-mouse-critter kinda rat. Back in the early Seventies a horror movie, named Willard, was made about a social outcast...the titular Willard...who befriended and trained several rats, one of whom was named Ben. Ultimately the rat horde, led by Ben, turns on Willard,  killing and eating him. Movie ends, credits roll, untold thousands of children are never ever allowed to have a pet rat, hamster, or any rodent-like critter. The movie, BTW, was a hit and inspired other Horror movies about both renegade wild animals and psychologically crazed killers. Think 'Jaws' and both the novel and movie versions of 'Carrie'

A year or so later, a sequel, named 'Ben' is filmed, staring the titular rat. Ben, still the leader of his horde of super intelligent, uber-aggressive rodents, is befriended by a lonely young boy named Danny. This being a horror movie, Ben's rat-horde goes renegade and starts tearing up the town and devouring the townspeople, only to be decimated by flame-thrower wielding police officers. Ben escapes a fiery demise and makes his way back to Danny. That heartfelt ballad? It's being sung to an injured Ben as the movie's final credits roll.

Again, the song was not written for Michael Jackson...it was written specifically for the movie by James Bond Theme songwriter Don Black, composed by prolific TV Theme/movie music composer Walter Scharf and was originally offered to MJ's good friend, contemporary rival, and fellow young recording mega-star, Donny Osmond. Donny, however, was on tour and would have had to wait until the tour wound down to record the song. The movie, on the other hand, was on a tight shooting schedule, and they really really wanted this song in the movie...so they offered it to Michael Jackson, who recorded it, and sang it over the closing credits of the movie (Lee Montgomery, the child actor who played Danny, sang it to Ben in the movie itself.)

The movie premiered to mixed reviews in June of '72, and the song debuted two months later to become MJ's first #1, but, unlike several of his and the J-5's hits, it didn't shoot up the charts like the proverbial moon-rocket...this one kinda took it's time getting there. 'Ben' was released a month after the movie, on July 12^th, but didn't debut on The Billboard Hot 100 until August 5^th at a lukewarm #85. It then took it's time climbing the chart, not breaking into the Top 20 until it clocked in at #13 on September 16th, then took another week to slide into the Top 10, at #6. It snagged the Top Spot three weeks later, on October 14^th , making MJ the youngest singer to score a #1 song as both a lead singer in a group and a solo artist while it was at it, and hung on for a single week before starting back down, dropping off the chart on November 18^th of '72. 'Ben' also found favor in other lands... the tune also snagged the Top Spot on the Australian Music Charts and scored the #7 spot across The Pond, on the British charts.

The song grabbed far more positive reviews than the film did, being so well respected, in fact, that in 1973 it snagged a Golden Globe for Best Song as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, losing to 'The Morning After', from 'The Poseidon Adventure'. Michael Jackson also got to perform it live at the ceremony, giving several million people who wouldn't normally be listening to a Michael Jackson tune a small taste of the star he was to become.

Even at the tender age of almost 14 young  Michael Jackson's vocals were loaded down with emotion and feelings...what the kids today call 'feels'... and that's what drove it into the Hot 100's top spot. Back than I was actually more of a Donny Osmond fan than I was a Michael Jackson fan, but I'll have to say that 'MJ's vocals were far more suited to 'Ben' than Donny's. While Donny had (And has) a killer voice, he just couldn't inject emotion into it at 14 or so years old the way MJ could. Donny knocked a couple of truly lovely ballads slam outa the park in his early career, but MJ's voice just had a certain soulful quality that just worked far better on a song as laden with deep emotion as Ben...Of course if Donnie had sung it, it would have been the only Osmond Brothers/Donnie Osmond tune that wasn't a cover.

Though the song was indeed about a rat, it never mentioned anything rodent-centric, and loads of people were truly moved and touched by it's soulful sound and deep, emotion. It was pretty, touching, and spoke eloquently of friendship. I remember hearing it pretty constantly on Richmond's AM Top 40 powerhouse, WLEE, during the Summer of '72, and, despite the fact that you seldom if ever hear it on the Oldies stations anymore, it would enjoy some pretty decent staying power.

It even became a Top-Ten hit in the UK a second time, reaching #5 in 1985, when Marti Webb covered it as a tribute to a tiny liver transplant patient named Ben Hardwick, whose parents set up a memorial fund in his name to assist the parents of young transplant patients after he died shortly after his third birthday...all of the royalties off of the song were donated to the memorial fund, BTW.

Ben was also one of MJ's favorite hits, and is one of the most re-released song among his huge library of hit tunes, being re-released on no fewer than ten different albums. So it's still out there. You just have to really strain your ears to hear it, because as I noted above, you hardly ever hear it on the Oldies stations.
If you are lucky enough to hear it, give it a nod, and remember the little guy who scored his first solo #1 hit with it. He didn't know it yet, but he was well on his way to becoming a legend.

So Enjoy!  'Ben' by Michael Jackson!


As a bonus, Michael Jackson singing 'Ben' live at the 1973 Academy Awards.