Michael Jackson's "Desire" and My 7-year Old Daughter

The last time I purchased a Michael Jackson album was in 1992 and I was 13.  I bought the Dangerous album on cassette at a Phar-mor store in Eastgate Ohio.  In the same transaction, I also bought Michael Bolton's Time, Love & Tenderness as well.  These were my two first music purchases, and as you can tell, I was on the edge... or maybe not.

I just about wore out the Dangerous tape, and it was a favorite of mine as I made it (barely) through my teenage years. Not until I found Harry Connick Jr's Blue Light Red Light album, which was given to me by my step-father and was my first CD, did Michael relinquish top spot in my, at the time, limited musical hierarchy.

Fast forward to this year.  Michael Jackson is gone from this earth, and for the first time in 20 years, I own a "new" one of his albums - The Essential Michael Jackson ($12.99 @ Amazon).  Granted, I didn't buy it (my wife Melissa did) but I'm happy to have it, as it offers a nice change from the country music we normally listen to in the car.  I actually like country music, but it's nice to change it up occasionally, and I'm certainly not up on the current pop scene, nor do I really enjoy that style of music these days. 

Something that is wonderful is how much the kids like the Michael Jackson music.  Initially they didn't care for the "newer" music, and wanted us to put the Jackson 5 era stuff on repeat.  But now, they're warming up to even the Dangerous tracks. 

So far, I've really had no concerns about exposing them to Michael Jackson.  He is obviously one of the all-time great musical artists of the 20th century, and I actually want my kids exposed to many different types of music.  I want to wet their musical taste-buds to as many musical styles as possible so they have open minds about music in general later in life.

But tonight, as I drove my oldest daughter (she'll be 7 in December) to her karate class, the song In the Closet came on.  My daughter remarked that she really likes this one, and began to sing along with the chorus.  Innocent enough, right?  There can't be anything damning there, right?  I mean, we long ago cleared the iPod of all music from our youth that contained cursing and language that could be considered risque - anything we really didn't want to have the kids repeating in public.

Here's a portion of the In the Closet lyrics -

One Thing In Life
You Must Understand
The Truth Of Lust
Woman To Man
So Open The Door
And You Will See
There Are No Secrets
Make Your Move
Set Me Free
Pretty tame, except for the word "lust. "

Here's another short section -

Just Open The Door
And You Will See
This Passion Burns
Inside Of Me
Don't Say To Me
You'll Never Tell
Touch Me There
Make The Move
Cast The Spell
Hmmm.  Starting to talk about touching... and passion...

One more little tid-bit -

If You Can Get It
It's Worth A Try
I Really Want It
I Can't Deny
It's Just Desire
I Really Love It
'Cause If It's Aching
You Have To Rub It
Hmmm. Desire.  and aching and rubbing...

See my dilemma?  I mean, I'm really not sure I'm ready (or she's ready) to have any level of conversation about "desire" (at least how it's meant in this song), "aching", "touching" or especially "lust" with my (almost) 7 year old daughter.

Maybe I'm being a prude.  Or, maybe I'm giving her more credit than I should.  It's certainly not hard to argue that she's probably not really thinking about the words, and is more interested in the beat.  But, when will she start listening to the words?  When will she consider what they mean, how they go together, and the story that they tell.  And when will I, out of the blue, get a question from her that I will desperately want to punt to her mother???  I know it's coming...

So, I'll probably not change anything and we'll keep listening to touching, rubbing and aching, even though I'm, inside, scared to death she'll start to piece together that there's some strong emotions in that song.  It's really tame in comparison to some, but she's smart, and she's in school, talking to other kids, and getting smarter and more observant all the time. 

Deep down, I'm just afraid my daughter is still a little young to be hearing about Michael Jackson's "desire" whether its kept in the closet or not. 

If you've got thoughts, advice or guidance, feel free to leave a comment.