George Michael on the two best lyrics he ever wrote
Not every pop song needs to have Bob Dylan-style lyrics to be respected. The entire ‘poptimism’ movement was about appreciating songs with nothing more to say other than going out on a Friday night and having some killer tunes to back it up half the time. But George Michael was born out of the tradition of classic songwriters, and even if he did consider himself a fan of genres like dance and electronic, he knew that ‘Praying for Time’ and ‘You Have Been Loved’ ranked among the best lyrics that he had ever made.
And that’s saying something, considering some of the questionable material left over from listening to Wham! Regardless of how many fond memories that most people have of ‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, not every song has held up well to the test of time. No matter how often people still jam along to those tunes, lines like ‘Wham, bam, I am a man’ aren’t exactly on the same level as ‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind’.
Then again, that’s probably the reason why Michael wanted to completely reinvent himself by the time he made Faith. The entire premise of ‘Careless Whisper’ was miles above anything else the duo had made, so it only made sense for him to ascend to the same levels as his heroes like Elton John.
Whereas ‘I Want Your Sex’ and ‘Monkey’ still had their danceable elements, ‘Praying for Time’ opened up Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 with one of the greatest intros of Michael’s entire career. The opening strains of ‘Faith’ set him up for a lifetime as a solo artist, but hearing those synthesisers in the mix before he comes in feels like being thrown into a creative whirlwind every time it comes on.
While that was a pseudo-tribute to John Lennon’s political songwriting style, ‘You Have Been Loved’ is a far more intimate affair. Since ‘Fastlove’ had a much more static approach to lyrics, this feels like the grown-up version of Michael’s traditional love songs, talking about how one day we will all be gone and that it’s important to love people while you’re still here to appreciate them.
This and ‘Praying for Time’ do seem like they are on two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, but that’s why Michael considered them a high point in his career, saying, “I think it’s probably this and ‘Praying for Time’. Probably two of the best lyrics I’ve ever written, in my opinion. And I think that it’s just very….I wanted to do something that reminded you a bit of those old Burt Bacharach records but with maybe a more slightly personal lyric.”
Given where he would go on Patience, though, Michael seemed to be testing both sides of his lyrical prowess on that album as well. ‘Shoot the Dog’ seemed like the most scathing indictment on the modern world, while ‘My Mother Had a Brother’ was practically ‘You Have Been Loved’ with a more poignant look at a family dynamic.
More than anything, both of those songs were a good indicator of what Michael wanted to do with his career. Anyone can just be a pretty face performing onstage, but he was more concerned with how his material would hold up in the years to come rather than fitting into one singular box.
