Author: Fred Colby

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

1983-1984 : Victory era

RECORDING DATE

Recorded in 1983 as first studio collaboration with John Barnes. Inspired by poker player Wild Bill Hickok or bison hunter William Cody. According to Bruce Swedien, it had “a big symphonic opening and a charming melody.”.

MJ spoke about it in the “Hayvenhurst” home video in 1983 : “It’s about Will Cody (the cowboy) and how he died. I’m really excited about it because- I really hate to say it, but I know it’s going to be a hit. I really feel strong about it.”

John Barnes spoke about the song during an interview for the MJ Cast in 2018 (Episode 089) : “We went to a studio called SoundCastle, that’s the first time I saw him in person and we started that day doing the song “Buffalo Bill”. I did a classical introduction to the piece quickly and then we did the track. We got major of it done by the first session, maybe five or six hours. We were able to be complementary. To me, it was Michael’s ‘explorative period, the track was a dance song. It wasn’t quite as fast as some of his other songs but it was definately in the R&B/dance speed, Michael Jackson music!”

Bill Bottrell on X (December 6, 2024) : “I did work with MJ on Buffalo Bill I think it was during Victory sessions, at a place called Can-Am. It was a strange, silly song, we did vocals. One session. “Who shot Buffalo Bill. They said he shot a lot. Did he ever get killed?” I went home and said to my fam: WTF? I understand the MJ community wanting to hear EVERYTHING. but seriously people, let MJ have some experimental time once in a while.”

STUDIO(S)

Los Angeles (California)

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Michael Jackson & John Barnes

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Not released as a single in the US

SHORT FILM (filmed by MJ during his lifetime)

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on a TV show

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

Third Album (1970)

RECORDING DATE

“Bridge over Troubled Water” is a song by the American folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 as the second single from their fifth studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970). It was composed by Paul Simon and produced by Simon & Garfunkel and Roy Halee.

Cover recorded in April–July 1970 with The Jackson 5 (lead vocals by Jermaine Jackson)

STUDIO(S)

Motown Recording Studios, Hollywood, California

SONGWRITER(S)

Paul Simon

PRODUCER(S)

The Corporation & Hal Davis

RELEASE DATE :

September 8, 1970 (Third Album).

LABEL

Motown Records

LENGTH

5:52

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Not released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

Moving Violation (1975)

RECORDING DATE

Recorded with The Jackson 5 in February 1975.

STUDIO(S)

Motown Recording Studios, Hollywood, California

SONGWRITER(S)

Jerry Marcellino & Mel Larson

PRODUCER(S)*

Jerry Marcellino & Mel Larson

RELEASE DATE :

May 15, 1975 (album version on “Moving Violation”).

LABEL

Motown Records

LENGTH

3:38

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

Troop (John Harreld, Allen McNeil, Reggie Warren, Rodney Benford, Steve Russell): vocals
Derek Organ: drums (overdubs)
Chuckii Booker: all other instruments

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Not released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

RECORDING DATE

Breath” (also known as “Breathe” or “Breed”) is an unreleased song written by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, intended for the scrapped late 2000s project. It was set to be co-written with Indian-American author Deepak Chopra, and is currently known as the last song Jackson worked on in his lifetime.

Part of Michael’s inspiration for the tour was his concern about global warming. Three weeks before his death, Jackson sent Chopra a CD, hand-delivered to his home in Carlsbad, California. “The music is a very soft, mellow piece,” says Chopra. “It’s called ‘Breathe.’ He wanted to do a song about the environment, and he wanted me to help him with the lyrics. There were big ideas behind the lyrics – how the trees are our lungs, the Earth is our body.”

A snippet of “Breath” was played by Chopra during an interview that took shortly after Jackson’s http://passing.It is unknown whether the snippet is the full track or just a part of it. A CD was later found in the court documents of the Jeffré Phillips lawsuit.] The title was included in Jackson’s notes found after his passing in 2009.

The title “Breed” was a mishearing included in the digital releases of Rolling Stone’s “The Last Days of Michael Jackson” article, as the physical releases of it do cite it as “Breathe”, which also makes more sense in the context of Chopra’s description of the song.
It is unknown who produced the track.
Fans dubbed this song “River Ripple” after an article by The Sun was released, claiming that Jackson had made a song by that title after a day of playing with his children.Considering the source material, there is no official confirmation whether or not a track by the title of “River Ripple” actually exists.

STUDIO(S)

???

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Michael Jackson

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased.

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Never released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

1998-2004 : Invincible/Number Ones/The Ultimate Collection era

RECORDING DATE

The song was recorded between August 1998 and February 1999 for the Invincible album. Final mix was done in July 2001.

STUDIO(S)

Los Angeles (California)

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

Elliot “Dr. Freeze” Straite

PRODUCER(S)

Michael Jackson
Elliot “Dr. Freeze” Straite

RELEASE DATE :

October 30, 2001 (Invincible)

LABEL
Sony Music

LENGTH

5:32

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Not released as a single in the US

SHORT FILM (filmed by MJ during his lifetime)

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on a TV show

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

2005-2009 : Thriller 25/This Is It

RECORDING DATE

Instrumental was done in April 2009. This title is just working title for future work. One of the songs listed by MJ on a handwritten note of songs he wanted to finish found in his room after his death June 2009.

CD was found in court documents of Jeffre Phillips’ lawsuit.

Damien Shields :

“What I heard was an instrumental. My notes say “booming digital drums and rock/electric guitar”. Don’t ask me to describe it further – that’s all my notes say. It’s one of the many work-in-progress ideas MJ gave random titles to – to make it easier to refer to the track.

STUDIO(S)

???

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Michael Jackson

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased.

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Never released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

1967-1968 : Steeltown era

RECORDING DATE

Recorded with the Jackson 5 in 1967-1968.

STUDIO(S)

Steeltown Studios in Gary, Indiana

SONGWRITER(S)

Sandy Wilborn

PRODUCER(S)

Unknown

RELEASE DATE :

In 1989 (The Jackson 5 – Beginning Years 1967-1968)

LABEL

Steeltown Records

LENGTH

4:02

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Remains unreleased as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON CONCERTS

Never performed on concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

RECORDING DATE

The track was made in 2007. Credits Brad Buxer as the co-producer and Michael Prince as the sound engineer.

Damien Shields:

“I have no clue when it was recorded. One of the instruments (maybe a classical guitar not sure) sounds similar to what can be heard in “Days In Gloucestershire”. But in my opinion “Boy No” bears no resemblance to “Beautiful Girl” and definitely not to “Human Nature”.[1] […] Boy No is quite somber. The verses are largely mumbled, but he’s mumbling about seeing the city lights, being alone, and having nowhere to go. Chorus is “Boy, no. [We/they] ain’t got a place for [you/me] to stay.”

The song was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2010, crediting Brad Buxer as the producer. It was later being acknowledged by fans. The track was recorded in 2007.

On August 28, 2025, a low-quality snippet was leaked on Discord by LegendZx1. Later, a high-quality snippet was leaked by MJ Leaker on YouTube. Other snippets leaked in January 2026. The full demo remains unreleased.

STUDIO(S)

???

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Michael Jackson & Brad Buxer

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased.

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Never released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

1989-1993 : Dangerous era

RECORDING DATE

Written and possibly recorded in 1989.

STUDIO(S)

???

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

Unknown

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

???

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Remains unreleased

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5

RECORDING DATE

Recorded with The Jackson 5 in June 1969.

STUDIO(S)

Motown Studios in California

SONGWRITER(S)

Ivy Jo Hunter, William “Mickey” Stevenson

PRODUCER(S)

Bobby Taylor

RELEASE DATE :

December 12, 1969 (Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5).

LABEL

Motown

LENGTH

2:38

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Never released as a single

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON CONCERTS

Never performed on concerts