“ABC” (1970) – The Jackson 5 * Written and produced by The Corporation (Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, and Deke Richards) * 45: “ABC” / “The Young Folks” * LP: ABC * Label: Motown
A full listen-through is what keeps this overly familiar song fresh. Let the cheerful Sesame Street images of the original album cover come into focus. Open yourself up to flashbacks of the Jackson 5 cartoon’s vibrant colors and happy childhood Saturday mornings. Then let eleven-year-old Michael knock you sideways once again with his wondrous authority: “Sit down, girl! I think I love you! No! Get up, girl! Show me what you can do! Shake it, shake it, baby!…” The 1969 single, with its usage of the “na na na na boo boo” melody in the second verse, appeared on the forefront of an early ’70s pop music preoccupation with children. The song also hearkens to Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ “ABC’s of Love,” with Lymon being the same sort of vocal prodigy frontman that Michael appeared to be. The flipside offsets any childishness with a contribution (previously done by the Supremes) to the era’s expanding catalog of socially-conscious soul. “We’re marching with signs, we’re getting in line,” sings Michael at possibly his highest-ever point of political activism on record.