Michael Jackson Songs - Ben Lyrics

Michael Jackson - Ben

Michael Jackson - Ben Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Ben
Released: 1972

Ben Lyrics

Ben, the two of us need look no more,
We both found what we were looking for.
With a friend to call my own,
I'll never be alone, and you, my friend, will see,
You've got a friend in me.
Ben, you're always running here and there,
You feel you're not wanted anywhere.
If you ever look behind and don't like what you find
There's something you should know, you've got a place to go.
I used to say I and me, now it's us, now it's we.
I used to say I and me, now it's us, now it's we.
Ben most people would turn you away;
I don't listen to a word they say.
They don't see you as I do;
I wish they would try to'
I'm sure they'd think again if they had a friend like Ben,
A friend like Ben
(Like Ben)
Like Ben

Writer/s: Scharf, Walter / Black, Don
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Ben Song Chart

Don Black and Walter Scharf wrote this for the 1972 movie of the same name. It was the sequel to a movie called Willard, which was remade in 2003 starring Crispin Glover. Ben is a pet rat. In the movie, a young boy befriends the rat, but the rat turns evil and recruits other rats to attack humans. In the remake of Willard, Ben becomes an enormous super-rat.

Despite being about a rat, the lyrics are touching and sentimental, and make no reference to rodents. A lot of people were very moved by the song.

According to the book Jacksons Number Ones , this was intended for Donny Osmond, but Don Black suggested Jackson, who got the song instead.

Donny Osmond told The Huffington Post that he didn't record the song when it was offered to him as he was on tour and they had to finish the movie. He added: "Michael and I would talk about this all the time. It's funny, because we eventually ended up laughing at this one. I will never forget, we stayed up to like two in the morning, laughing about the fact that I had a hit about a puppy and he had a hit about a rat. (Laughs)"

The song's co-writer Don Black has written many movie themes, including the hits "Diamonds Are Forever" (for the James Bond movie) and "Born Free." At his 2007 induction in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, he said of "Ben," "When it came to writing about a rat, I said, 'You can't write about a rat.' I mean, I'm not going to use words like 'cheese.' I thought the best thing to do is write about friendship."

This song is one of Michael Jackson's favorites, and it was his first #1 hit as a solo artist. Motown recorded him as a solo artist when The Jackson 5 stopped selling well.

Jackson was 14 when he recorded this. He became the youngest artist to top the US charts both as a solo artist and as a member of a group (The Jackson 5).

This was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. Jackson sang it at the ceremony in 1973.

Part of this song was used in a 1991 episode of The Simpsons, where Jackson guest stars as an overweight, white mental patient who sings it to Homer. While Michael Jackson voiced all the talking parts for the character, the singing voice was someone else, which caught the rest of the cast by surprise. Harry Shearer , who does several voices on the show, told us: "Michael did all the vocal parts when we read it again at the stage. The character in the show sang special lyrics to 'Ben,' and when it came time to sing, Michael sat back, nodded, and a guy that we'd not noticed before, a white guy sitting across from him at the table, started singing in a ridiculously accurate Michael Jackson voice. And I thought about it for a minute, and then I realized, I guess we paid enough for the talking Michael Jackson, but not enough for the singing Michael Jackson.

The guy who did the singing was Kipp Lennon, who often did singing parts for the show.

Pearl Jam has a song called "Rats," which is a reference to this. It's on their 1993 release Vs..

At Michael Jackson's 2001 tribute special, young Country singer Billy Gilman performed this with Marc Anthony.

This song was used in an episode of Queer as Folk where Michael Novotny is trying to win back lover Ben Bruckner. (thanks, Allison - Portales, NM)

After Jackson's death, his family sued the promotion company that planned his comeback tour. In testimony, his mother, Katherine, revealed that Michael did enjoy the company of certain rodents: he once smuggled a mouse into a Beverly Hills restaurant.