a dream or a song: ‘Cause This is Thriller Night

I wrote about this long long ago as my stuck in my head song of the day but apparently 25 years ago today was the day this album was released (sorry I misthought- today is the day the Thriller anniversary remix album is released) so this may be more appropriate
Here's a tonne of Michael Jackson info
From an LA Times retrospective

"Thriller": If ever a video killed the radio star, "Thriller" was it. The song was adequately groovy -- funked-out beat, lyrics seemingly lifted from some little kid's "scary storybook" -- but the video was legendary: bearing a price tag of $800,000, the 14-minute mini-film was the most expensive video of its time. Back then it was over the top; to today's viewer, jaded by bloated-budget videos, it still looks epic -- and deliciously campier than ever. That dialogue ("I'm not like other guys")! That Vincent Price rap interlude! And, most of all, those choreographed zombies, dancing in a style that -- thanks to Usher, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown -- still gets its close-up on MTV. (Baz Dreisinger)

It's close to midnight
something evil's lurkin' from the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed

'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
And no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight, yeah

You hear the door slam
And realize there's nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand
And wonder if you'll ever see the sun
You close your eyes
And hope that this is just imagination
Girl, but all the while
You hear a creature creepin' up behind
You're outta time

'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
There ain't no second chance
Against the thing with the forty eyes, girl
(Thriller)
(Thriller night)
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight

Night creatures call
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade
There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time
(They're open wide)
This is the end of your life

They're out to get you
There's demons closing in on every side
They will possess you
Unless you change that number on your dial
Now is the time
For you and I to cuddle close together, yeah
All through the night
I'll save you from the terror on the screen
I'll make you see

That this is thriller
Thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more
Than any goule would ever dare try
(Thriller)
(Thriller night)
So let me hold you tight
And share a
(killer, diller, chiller)
(Thriller here tonight)

'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
Girl, I can thrill you more
Than any goule would ever dare try
(Thriller)
(Thriller night)
So let me hold you tight
And share a
(killer, thriller)

I'm gonna thrill you tonight

[Rap]
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'all's neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell

I'm gonna thrill you tonight
(Thriller, thriller)
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
(Thriller night, thriller))
I'm gonna thrill you tonight
Ooh, babe, I'm gonna thrill you tonight
Thriller night, babe

[Rap]
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
for no mere mortal can resist
the evil of the thriller

And here's that most famous of videos

Michael Jackson - Thriller
Uploaded by hakim93200

Michael Jackson-Thriller [download]

and because I can’t do this without mentioning not only one of the best songs on this album and probably ever but also one of my personal favorites
on "Billie Jean":

Twenty-five years later, "Thriller's" central chamber has lost none of its fevered mystery. This is where the album's material plane gives way to a haunted interior, excavated by that remorseless bass line and shaped by a taut interplay of instruments -- the arrangement is ingenious, so lean and spare that it's hard to accept that there are three synthesizers at work. Jackson finds a new voice here, a victim's voice that shudders in the shadows of this remarkable sonic space, lashing at his own naiveté and at the false accusers who were just starting to gather at his door. (Richard Cromelin)

this is the official video which still confuses me a lot but this is the performance that my mom (constantly) tells me is the one that made Michael Jackson “Michael Jackson” and yeah it’s hot. From Motown 25

She was more like a beauty queen
From a movie scene
I said, don't mind
But what do you mean
I am the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round
She said I am the one who will dance
On the floor in the round

She told me her name was Billie Jean
As she caused a scene
Then every head turned with eyes
That dreamed of being the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round

People always told me
Be careful what you do
And don't go around
Breaking young girls' hearts
And mother always told me,
Be careful who you love
Be careful what you do
'Cause the lie becomes the truth

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that
I am the one
But the kid is not my son
She says I am the one
But the kid is not my son

For forty days and forty nights
The law was on her side
But who can stand
When she's in demand
Her schemes and plans
'Cause we danced on the floor in the round
So take my strong advice
Just remember to always think twice
(Do think twice)
Do think twice
Hooo

She told my baby
We’d danced ‘til three
Then she looked at me
Then showed a photo
My baby cried
His eyes were like mine (oh, no!)
Coz we dance on the floor, in the round, baby

People always told me
Be careful of what you do
And don't go around
Breaking young girls' hearts
(Don't break no hearts)

She came and stood right by me
Then the smell of sweet perfume
This happened much too soon
She called me to her room

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that
I am the one
But the kid is not my son
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that
I am the one
But the kid is not my son
No, no
She says I am the one
(Oh, babe)
But the kid is not my son

Hee, hee, hee!
Hoo!
Hoo!

She says I am the one
But the kid is not my son
No, no, no
Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that
I am the one

(You know what you did to me, babe)
But the kid is not my son
No, no, no, no
No, no

She says I am the one
But the kid is not my son

No, no

She says I am the one
You know what you did
She says he is my son
Breaking my heart, babe
She says I am the one

Billie Jean is not my lover
Billie Jean is not my lover

and here’s Chris Cornell’s version