Liberian Girl

"Liberian Girl" was the ninth single to be released from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. The song was written as early as 1983 and was among those considered for The Jacksons' Victory album. It was reworked and rewritten for Bad. The song was released as a single in Europe and Australia.
The song starts with the Swahili language phrase "Naku Penda pia, Naku Taka pia, Mpenziwe!" (I love you too, I want you too, my love!), which was sung by South African singer Letta Mbulu (although Swahili is only commonly spoken on the opposite coast of Africa).

Chart Performance


Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 50
Dutch Top 40 14
French Singles Chart 15
Irish Singles Chart 1
Swiss Singles Chart 12[1]
UK Singles Chart 13
Chart (2009) Peak
position
French Digital Singles Chart 34[2]
Swiss Singles Chart 36[1]
UK Singles Chart 86[3]

Music Video


Directed by Jim Yukich, the video for the song featured many of Jackson's celebrity friends who wait on the set to film the music video for "Liberian Girl", only to discover he was filming them all along. As named in the closing titles, featured in the video are:
Beverly Johnson
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Sherman Hemsley
Brigitte Nielsen
Paula Abdul
Carl Weathers
Whoopi Goldberg
Quincy Jones
Jackie Collins
Amy Irving
Jasmine Guy
Rosanna Arquette
Lou Diamond Phillips
Olivia Newton-John
John Travolta
Corey Feldman
Steven Spielberg
Debbie Gibson
Rick Schroder
Blair Underwood
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Bubbles
Suzanne Somers
Lou Ferrigno
Don King and "Son"
Mayim Bialik
Virginia Madsen
David Copperfield
Billy Dee Williams
Richard and Emily Dreyfuss
Danny Glover
Olivia Hussey
Dan Aykroyd
Steve Guttenberg
The music video of the song was included on the video albums: HIStory on Film, Volume II and Vision.

Track Listing


7"
Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
Girlfriend - 3:05
12"
Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
Get on the Floor - 4:44
Girlfriend - 3:05
CD Single:
Liberian Girl (Edit) - 3:40
Girlfriend - 3:05
The Lady In My Life - 5:00
Get On The Floor - 4:44
Unreleased DualDisc
CD Side:
"Liberian Girl" - 3:40
DVD Side:
"Liberian Girl (Edit)" (Audio)
"Liberian Girl" (Video)

Covers and Sampling


"Liberian Girl" has been sampled and covered by various musicians:
In 1990, Chicago-based jazz musician Chico Freeman recorded an instrumental jazz version for his album You'll Know When You Get There.[4]
In 1996, hip hop artist MC Lyte sampled the song on "Keep On, Keepin' On" featuring R&B group Xscape. The song released first on the soundtrack for Sunset Park and later on MC Lyte's fifth album Bad As I Wanna B.[5]
In 1999, American singer Jennifer Lopez's song "If You Had My Love" contains a sample from "Liberian Girl" only on a remix called 'Dark Child Master Mix'[6]
In 2001, the song was sampled on the late American rapper 2Pac's songs "Letter 2 My Unborn",[7] on his fourth posthumous album Until the End of Time and "The Thug in Me" (Original Version).[8]
In 2007, Canadian rapper Roi Heenok sampled the song on his track "La Coka Coka", in French and released on his album Cocaïno Rap Musique: Volume 1.[9]

Personnel


Written and composed by Michael Jackson
Produced by Quincy Jones
Co-Produced by Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson: Solo and background vocals
John Robinson: Drums
Douglas Getschal: Drum programming
Paulinho Da Costa: Percussion
Christopher Currell: Synclavier
John Barnes, Michael Boddicker, David Paich, Larry Williams: Synthesizers
Steve Porcaro: Synthesizer programming
Letta Mbulu: Swahili chant
Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson, John Barnes and Quincy Jones
Synthesizer arrangement by Jerry Hey, John Barnes and Quincy Jones
Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and John Barnes
Swahili chant arrangement by Caiphus Semenya