Rockwell And His Uncredited Friend Create A Halloween Classic With ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’
There are few Halloween hits that can stand the test of time without falling into the straight-up novelty category. ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ has one gigantic uncredited elephant in the room that helps lift it up to being a song worthy of jamming out to all year long: Michael Jackson.
If you weren’t in the know, Rockwell is actually the son of Motown founder Berry Gordy, as well as the childhood friend of Jackson. While the claim is that Rockwell got his record deal without using his real name and, thus, skirting any nepotism claims; listening to ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ for more than just the chorus reveals the fact that, well, Rockwell’s not all that great a vocalist.
In fact, he’s not really singing at all. He’s more talking through the story of being watched in the night. All while constantly slipping into the same warbly vocal affect your little brother puts on his voice to do a Dracula impression.
But then the chorus hits and Michael Jackson glides into the scene with seven words, total. Repeated as often as the song will allow, for maximum cool. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.
But still, give Rockwell his due credit. He’s sinking his Dracula fangs deep into this project and the music video is no exception. With not a Jackson in sight, it’s mostly up to Rockwell to sell the music video and, credit where it's due, he plays a good paranoid.
The music video involves Rockwell coming home and being rattled by weird noises and occurrences inside his house. A movie playing on the television has characters walk up to the screen and look out at Rockwell, the mailman is seen turning into a zombie, blood rains down from Rockwell’s shower head.
All the while, Rockwell is running around his house sing-speaking in his best Snagglepuss voice about whether or not it’s the neighbors who are watching him or the IRS.
The cinematography on display for a video from 1984 is pretty astute. Tons of tracking shots of various rooms and close ups of different household items gives a great sense of paranoia. The idea that, while Rockwell was away, anything he could think up may or may not have been compromised in his house and be watching or monitoring him in some form right this second.
The Halloween vibes are immaculate. ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ perfectly nails that fine line between being perfect for your yearly Halloween mix, while also being just strong enough to stand on its own all year round.
While there’s no doubt that Michael Jackson’s chorus is what elevates the song into year-round territory, Rockwell gets credit for throwing his all into the assignment he was given. Sure, it’s never going to be considered some great vocal showcase or even something people would say was able to stand toe-to-toe on the same record as MJ. But putting in the work and getting to the dance is still a great achievement, even if that dance is the Monster Mash.
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