P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

1983 single by Michael Jackson
the Michael Jackson song

"P. Y. T. (Pretty Young Thing)" is a song by American singer songwriter Michael Jackson. It is the sixth single from Jackson's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). The song was written by James Ingram and Quincy Jones. "P. Y. T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was released on September 19, 1983. The single charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 46 on the Hot Black Singles chart, becoming the sixth top 10 hit from the album. It reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was most successful in Belgium, charting within the top 10 at number 6. The song has been covered and sampled by numerous artists, including Monica, Justin Guarini, and Kanye West. The original demo was also remixed by Black Eyed Peas singer will. i. am for Thriller 25. "P. Y. T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was never performed live by Jackson. In a rehearsal for the Dangerous World Tour, however, Jackson sang a small part of the demo version, describing it as "something I wrote that I haven't recorded yet".

Quincy Jones came up with the original title for the song after his wife, Peggy Lipton, brought lingerie with the words "pretty young thing" on it. From there, Jones asked several songwriters to write a song around the title. Jackson and musician Greg Phillinganes co wrote and recorded a demo, which was presented to Jones by Phillinganes. That version is featured on The Ultimate Collection (2004). Jackson recalls that his version with Phillinganes was not what Jones was looking for. "Quincy wanted a fast song. Mine was mid tempo." When James Ingram presented his demo, Jones said "that's it", and sent Ingram home to finish the lyrics. Jones then suggested they extend the bridge and add a chant section, resulting in Jones receiving a co writer's credit. Jackson says he loved the version Ingram and Jones came up with, stating that he liked the "code" in the lyrics and the fact that words like "tenderoni" were fun rock 'n' roll type words that couldn't be found in the dictionary.

Producer Quincy Jones allowed his long time sound engineer Bruce Swedien to choose a large diaphragm Shure SM7 dynamic microphone for Jackson's voice. The choice was unusual, as the microphone was more often seen in radio stations. For backing vocals, Swedien positioned Jackson at different distances from the microphone to record each track, to get a thicker sound. James Ingram later described working with Jackson and Jones as being in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. "It's almost like I got the chance to go to Oz and Quincy was the Wizard of Oz and Michael Jackson was who he was dealing with in his world. Their work ethic is unbelievable." He noted how Jones would fall asleep on the board, waking up to answer a question. "He works in the Alpha state a lot", Ingram added. According to the official sheet music at Musicnotes. com, "P. Y. T. (Pretty Young Thing)" is in the key of B minor. It has a tempo of 126 beats per minute, making it one of Jackson's fastest songs.