Twenty-five years ago this Friday, Michael Jackson put out “Invincible.” It was his last studio album of brand-new songs, and it went straight to No. 1 when it landed in US stores on October 30, 2001.
The album is full of big dance tracks and slick production. But one of its prettiest songs is just Michael and almost nothing else. It’s called “Speechless,” and it opens with him singing alone, no music behind him at all.
For years fans wondered where a song that gentle came from. You’d guess a heartbreak, or a long quiet night at the piano.
The real answer is a lot more fun than that.
Michael told Vibe magazine back in March 2002 that “Speechless” started on an ordinary day in Germany. He’d gotten into a water balloon fight with some kids, soaking wet and laughing like a kid himself. And when it was over he didn’t cool down. He felt the opposite.
“I was so happy after the fight that I ran upstairs in their house and wrote ‘Speechless’,” he said.
That’s it. A love song people play at weddings, born from a bunch of water balloons and a yard full of laughing children.
Here’s the song itself, so you can hear how soft and simple it really is. Listen to the very first seconds, before any instruments come in.
“Speechless,” the finished song Michael wrote that afternoon
Those opening bars weren’t an accident. Bruce Swedien, the recording engineer who worked with Michael for decades and helped make “Thriller,” said “Michael sings the first eight bars a cappella.” The song ends the same way, with just his voice. To fill out the sound, Michael brought in the Andraé Crouch Singers, a famous gospel choir, to sing behind him.
Michael later said “Speechless” was one of his own favorites on the whole album. For a man who could have picked any of his hits, that says a lot about what the song meant to him.
He didn’t perform it often, which makes the times he did pretty special.
Michael singing part of “Speechless” live in 2009
It’s a strange and sweet thing to sit with. One of the most tender songs he ever wrote came out of pure happiness, from a goofy, dripping-wet afternoon with children he wanted to make smile.
That was Michael. The same man who filled the biggest stadiums on earth could get so full of joy over a water fight that he had to run inside and turn it into music.
“Invincible” turns 25 this Friday. If you’ve never really sat with “Speechless,” now’s the time.