A ballad about a man merely trying to have his voice heard while by being crucified by the press.
“Stranger in Moscow” exemplifies Michael Jackson not as ‘The King of Pop,’ but simply as a man in a foreign land disconnected from the world.
“Stranger in Moscow” was written in a hotel room in Moscow, possibly between September 13–16, 1993, while Michael was on his Dangerous World Tour. The song would be released as the final single off the HIStory album in November, 1996. It is perhaps Michael’s most personal song, as his lyrics are direct and in the first person.
“Stranger in Moscow”
“I was wandering in the rain
Mask of life, feelin’ insane
Swift and sudden fall from grace
Sunny days seem far away
Kremlin’s shadow belittlin’ me
Stalin’s tomb won’t let me be
On and on and on it came
Wish the rain would just let me”
The opening verse speaks of a “mask of life,” a clear reference to isolation and despair which so often accompanies fame and fortune. Michael’s “fall from grace” refers to how the pop-star would be ridiculed, victimized and deemed a criminal by the press once the allegations of child abuse broke in 1993.
Up until this point, Michael was at the height of his success and in the midst of his record-breaking Dangerous World Tour. In response to the allegations, Michael recorded a statement from his Neverland Ranch which was televised worldwide on December 22, 1993. Of the media’s damaging treatment Jackson stated:
“I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of this mass matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions. I ask all of you to wait to hear the truth before you label or condemn me. Don’t treat me like a criminal, because I am innocent.”
Michael has always had an indifferent relationship with the media. As he would suggest later in his career, “The bigger the star, the bigger the target.”
In an interview with Barbara Walters in Paris, 1997, Michael declared he disliked the name ‘Wacko Jacko’ — a name the mainstream and tabloid press often used from the mid 1980s:
Wacko Jacko — where’d that come from? Some English tabloid. I have a heart and I have feelings. I feel that when you do that to me. It’s not nice. Don’t do it. I’m not a wacko.
However, with the allegations directed at Michael in the summer of 1993, the media now had ammunition for a full character assassination despite the fact a police officer stated to the LA Times:
“No evidence (medical, photographic or video) could be found that would support a criminal filing.”
The media before 1993, were already invasive of Michael’s privacy, relationships and his changing physical appearance, as Michael suggested in “Leave me Alone”, but once the allegations were in the public domain, the mainstream and tabloid media went on the attack:
The New York Post on its front-page declared, Peter Pan or Pervert? August 23, 1993.
Newsweek on its cover page questioned of Michael, Is He Dangerous or Off the Wall? September 6, 1993.
Time stated, Michael Jackson: Who’s Bad? September 6, 1993.
As the remainder of the Dangerous World Tour was canceled, Michael retreated from the public eye in late November of 1993, in an attempt to end his drug dependency. Michael released an audio statement to the press:
“I was humiliated, embarrassed, hurt and suffering great pain in my heart. The pressure resulting from these false allegations, coupled with the incredible energy necessary for me to perform caused so much distress that it left me physically and emotionally exhausted. I became increasingly more dependent to the painkillers to get me through the days of the tour."
However, the media gave no sympathy to Michael whose emotional and physical health was at risk. Instead, the embattled star became the subject of taunts and ridicule:
The Daily Mirror held a “Spot the Jacko” contest which offered readers a vacation to Disney World. News of the World ran the headline, Hunt for Jacko the Fugitive. The Sunday Express headline read, Drug Treatment Star Faces Life on the Run.
How Does ‘It’ Feel?
In the chorus of “Stranger in Moscow,” Michael repeatedly asked the listener, “How does it feel?” What Michael is referring to is a question he has been asked so many times:
How does it feel to have the biggest selling album of all time? How does it feel to be admired by so many? How does it feel to be wealthy and famous? How does it feel to be so talented? How does to feel, Michael asks, “When you’re alone and you’re cold inside.”
“Here abandoned in my fame
Armageddon of the brain
KGB was doggin’ me
Take my name and just let me be
Then a begger boy called my name
Happy days will drown the pain
On and on and on it came
And again, and again, and again…
Take my name and just let me be”
Michael suggests it all means nothing when you feel isolated, disconnected and alone.
“Just Let Me Be”
Deemed a criminal, a forsaken man, Michael repeatedly asks the media to separate his celebrity persona from his true self. Michael is asking for privacy and for the public and media to understand that behind his image he is a man.
“Stranger in Moscow” concludes with lyrics spoken in Russian. The lyrics spoken by an unnamed individual lend to the feeling of paranoia, despair, fear and isolation of “Stranger in Moscow”, a ballad about a man merely trying to have his voice heard while by being crucified by the press.
Credits: MJ Beats
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