The chorus contains one of the most misheard vocals ever. The line is: "Keep up with the force... don't stop 'til you get enough." Jackson may have been inspired by the 1977 movie Star Wars, which popularized the concept of "The Force."
To this point, Michael Jackson had recorded four #1 hits with The Jackson 5, and one as a solo artist ("Ben," a 1972 song about a pet rat). But this was the first chart-topper he wrote himself. Quincy Jones, who produced the album, encouraged Jackson to write his own songs, and the young singer quickly developed a talent for composition. Jackson wrote or co-wrote nine more #1 hits in his career, including "We Are The World." Jackson and Jones first worked together on music for the 1978 film The Wiz (Jackson played the Scarecrow); Off The Wall was the first album Jones produced for him.
Jackson wrote this for an extremely high vocal range. Since his voice could not carry this alone, he was overdubbed a few times to create a harmony and fill out the vocals.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.