Whoever said playing video games isn’t educational hasn’t play the Michael Jackson Experience. Because my son was lucky enough to receive this gift for his 6th birthday, I now know things I never knew before about the late, great King of Pop. For example, that boy wrote some crazy lyrics!
Let’s take the popular chart topper “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (yes, that is the correct spelling!) If you have never had the opportunity to play the Michael Jackson Experience (available on gaming systems like Wii) then you don’t know that in addition to showing a video of a Michael Jackson-like character dancing to the song as it plays (with the appropriate backup dancers) the words to the song also flash up on the screen so you can sing along as well. Imagine my surprise when the following lyrics to this song appeared on the screen:
[Chorus]
I Said You Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
You Got To Be Startin’ Somethin’
I Said You Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
You Got To Be Startin’ Somethin’
It’s Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You’re Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It’s Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You’re Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
You’re A Vegetable, You’re A Vegetable
Still They Hate You, You’re A Vegetable
You’re Just A Buffet, You’re A Vegetable
They Eat Off Of You, You’re A Vegetable
Before I go any further, I bet you guys sang the words as you read them…admit it…you did!
Now, back to the story. After singing these fun lyrics, I said to myself: “Self…did Michael just sing about vegetables? Did he just call me a vegetable? And where does a buffet fit into all this?
After going to the kitchen for a snack (all this singing about food made me hungry!) I finished the dance with my son. Of course I whooped his butt on the game – I mean, he is six and I did grow up dancing to these songs. But I just couldn’t get the words to this song out of my head. I’ve looked online to see if there is some deep-seated meaning to the vegetable reference, but so far, haven’t found much. Some claim he was referencing the fact that most people don’t like vegetables, so by calling someone a vegetable, he is putting them down. That seems like a stretch to me, but who knows. Maybe the next time someone is rude to me I’ll just call him or her a cauliflower. That’ll show ‘em!
