Okay, the title is probably false. But I know when I first saw the cover to MJ’s “Music and Me“, I thought, “holy crap, Michael Jackson actually plays guitar?” Because we all hear about Prince being a 400-instrument virtuoso who’s mastered everything from electric bass to soprano piccolo, but I’ve never seen Michael hold anything more than a microphone. And despite the cover of “Music and Me”, he didn’t play one instrument on the album.

That makes me secretly hope that the crafty fingerstyle on this track is actually MJ. It’s probably not. But there’s nothing quite like a real artist accompanying himself on a spare demo track. Whether it’s Jobim or Mike iLL, Kurt Cobain or John Lennon, I’m a sucker for the raw demo. This is “She’s Out of My Life” (which is presumably the sequel to “The Lady In My Life“?). I would’ve gagged on this track when I was younger, now I think it’s brilliant.