Michael Jackson's "This Is It" Soundtrack Details Announced

At the stroke of midnight EST on October 12th, the never-before-released Michael Jackson song "This Is It," the closer from the upcoming concert rehearsal film This Is It, will premiere at the King of Pop's official Website, it was announced today. As Rolling Stone previously reported, "This Is It" features background vocals by the Jackson brothers. The film will begin its two-week theatrical run with special advance screenings on October 27th, with a wider release set for October 28th.

See photos from Jackson's This Is It rehearsals here.

Additionally, the track list for the two-disc This Is It soundtrack, due out October 27th, was also revealed. The first disc will feature the original masters of some of Jackson's biggest hits in an order that corresponds with how the songs would have appeared in the This Is It concerts. Two versions of "This Is It" will close out the first disc, the original and an orchestral take. Disc Two of This Is It will feature three demos — "She's Out Of My Life," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Beat It" — plus the spoken-word piece "Planet Earth." The two-disc set will also include a 36-page booklet featuring photos from Jackson's last This Is It rehearsal before his death on June 25th.

Look back at Michael Jackson's life in photos.

Check out the This Is It track list below:

This Is It Disc One
1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Jam"
3. "They Don't Care About Us"
4. "Human Nature"
5. "Smooth Criminal"
6. "The Way You Make Me Feel"
7. "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)"
8. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
9. "Thriller"
10. "Beat It"
11. "Black Or White"
12. "Earth Song"
13. "Billie Jean"
14. "Man In The Mirror"
15. "This Is It"
16. "This Is It (Orchestra Version)"

This Is It Disc Two
1. "She's Out Of My Life (Demo)"
2. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Demo)"
3. "Beat It (Demo)"
4. "Planet Earth (Poem)"

Related Stories:
• New Michael Jackson Soundtrack Single "This Is It" Out October 12th
• Jackson's "This Is It" Film Adds Worldwide Advance Screenings
• Video of Michael Jackson Singing "Human Nature" From "This Is It" Film Revealed

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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