Meet the Songwriters of Michael Jackson’s Hit “Human Nature”

If they say why, why / Tell them that it’s human nature / Why, why, does he do me that way? Michael Jackson’s soft tenor asks in his pensive 1983 hit, “Human Nature.” The Thriller track was a standout among the record’s heartier pop offerings and is today one of the album’s most timeless songs.

Unlike several of the songs on Thriller, “Human Nature” was not written or co-written by Jackson. It was instead penned by one acclaimed rock keyboardist in particular.

Who Wrote It?

“Human Nature” was written in 1982 by Toto keyboardist, Steve Porcaro, who received some lyrical assistance from wordsmith John Bettis. The idea for the R&B-tinged, soft rock classic came from a conversation Porcaro had one day with his young daughter Heather.

“Toto was in the studio mixing our fourth album,” the musician explained in an interview. “I wanted to stop by and visit my daughter who was around four or five years old at the time.” She had just gotten home from school and was very upset on this particular day, he said.

“She had had a real rough day at school,” he continued. “She had fallen off the slide and a boy came up and hit her. She asked me why the boy came up and hit her.” He said that he responded by trying “to explain to a five-year-old that he probably liked her in some way or just wanted to get her attention” and ended up attempting to explain human nature at the same time, a moment that is echoed in the song’s chorus.

Back at the studio, the rest of his bandmates were in the recording booth mixing what would be their hit song “Africa.” Porcaro went to sit at the studio’s piano and outpoured the framework and chorus of “Human Nature.”

The song came to Michael Jackson by way of a happy accident. While Porcaro had been working on Jackson’s iconic Thriller album, adding a synthesizer to the release, it was the album’s producer Quincy Jones who had been asking Toto’s other keyboardist David Paich for his songs.

One fated cassette of demos was handed off for Jones to listen to, the front side of which contained two Paich tunes, and the flip side held Porcaro’s “Human Nature.” “I never thought Quincy would ever hear it,” he explained. “He just happened to let the cassette play a roll.”

Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage