Stranger in Moscow
Inspired by his first visit to Russia, No Stranger in Moscow has a rainy day lull that summons up a hundred thousand poems. The blustery imagery is brilliant. Michael Jackson’s vocals here reach the most incredible highs and lows. He surpasses himself, on every single line. It’s like sleight of hand, a trick of the light. How can MJ upstage himself at every treble?
Those who dissed, dismissed, or failed to notice Blood on the Dance Floor did indeed miss some of Jackson’s most mature work- “Morphine” was also on there, also perfect, but much different from this song, though in a sense both of them are funerary. “No Stranger in Moscow” is ultimately a rainy day lullaby.
“Contrary to what many eulogists have claimed … it wasn’t all downhill from Thriller,” writes Andy Guess in Goodbye Billie Jean: the Meaning of Michael Jackson. “Michael Jackson reached the very height of international fame with his 1991 album Dangerous, released less than a month before the fall of the Soviet Union and more popular in many countries – and for a longer time – than it was in the United States.”
Jackson was the first Western pop star to perform in post-Soviet Russia. It was raining then, just like in the song. He was hours late, and his fans
waited in a torrential downpour. Jackson performed his heart out in the deluge, using extra staff to sweep the water off of the stage during the show. Fans painted his name on a statue of Karl Marx.
You have to keep in mind that Jackson’s music was illegal in the Soviet Union, something that had to be sold as part of the black market. His album Dangerous came out just before the fall of the Soviet Union, so the Dangerous explosion was hugely symbolic of freedom and love to his Russian fans.
“ I was wandering in the rain…Mask of life, feelin’ insane…Swift and sudden fall from grace…Sunny days seem far away…KGB was doggin’ me…Take my name and just let me be…
How does it feel? How does it feel? When you’re alone, and you’re cold inside…Like a stranger in Moscow…We’re talkin’ danger, we’re talkin’ danger, baby…I’m livin’ lonely, baby…”
The song exquisitely captured how alien he felt wherever he went, how lonely it was inside so much love. The song follows his “swift and sudden fall from grace” when the first set of child abuse allegations came out. “Here abandoned in my fame/Armageddon of the brain.” We’re talking danger, baby, yes we are: Jackson was sure “they” were trying to kill him, but it was dismissed as incoherent, paranoid insanity from an aging, drug addled pop star. Of course, drugs and addiction are often used to keep someone under another’s control, or the opportunity to control is seized if that person is already vulnerable from drugs.
In any event, we may never know the particulars, but No Stranger in Moscow is a gorgeous and revelatory song, underrated, a gift to Russian fans, offering them something personal.
After his death, shrines appeared all over Russia, and fans gathered to comfort each other and mourn. Plans were made after This Is It was released to stage an MJ impersonation contest in St. Petersburg, and in Ufa, fans planned to launch into the sky with balloons a video with their wishes for Jackson.
Russian fan Pavel Talalaev allegedly attempted suicide very soon after Jackson’s death, snapping angrily when he regained consciousness in hospital. “I don’t know why the doctors saved me. I want to be with Michael, and I will kill myself anyway.” Pavel makes his living as one of 
Jackson’s impersonators. He has even had plastic surgeries to look more like his idol. “He was so popular in Russia at the end of the 80s that everyone cheered when they saw me dressed up like Michael somewhere in the subway.”
Michael Jackson was indeed adored the world over, yet the song he wrote about Moscow was a testament to how lonely it is at the top, especially when you hit rock bottom.
Lorette C. Luzajic
Lorette C. Luzajic is the editor of Goodbye, Billie Jean: the Meaning of Michael Jackson. Find out more about this book and her three others by clicking here.
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