Sean Michaels “Michael Jackson's Robert Burns songs to be released” http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/17/michael-jackson-robert-burns-songs
マイケル・ジャクソン*1はスコットランドの国民的詩人Robert Burnsの詩に基づいた曲をレコーディングしていた。しかしこれらの曲は公表されることもなく、マイケル・ジャクソン関係者の間でさえ半ば忘れられた存在だった。最近、このプロジェクトで共同作業したDavid Gest氏（ライザ・ミネリの元夫）はこれらの曲の音源をスコットランドのRobert Burns Birthplace Museum*2に寄贈する意向であるという。同博物館側はこれらの音源のCD化を計画している*3。
これらの曲がレコーディングされ・お蔵入りした経緯について；
「蛍の光」の原曲”Auld Lang Syne”の歌詞もRobert Burnsによるもの*5。
Gest explained in a recent TV documentary for BBC Alba that he and Jackson were Burns fanatics. "I said to Michael, let's do a play [based on] Burns's life and he said he would help me with the music." Jackson ended up hiring musicians and borrowing the studio at the Jackson family home in Encino, California. "Michael believed in the project so much," Gest said. "We took about eight or 10 of Burns's poems and put them to contemporary music, such as A Red Red Rose, Ae Fond Kiss and the story of Tam O'Shanter."Although the collaboration was first revealed in 2008*4, it seems to have taken place in the late 80s. They originally intended to stage a musical, Gest said, produced by actor Anthony Perkins and directed by Gene Kelly. Plans were scuppered after Perkins's death in 1992. Kelly died in 1996. That year, Gest premiered a play based on Burns's life, Red Red Rose.
“Robert Burns” (National Library of Scotland) http://digital.nls.uk/burns/
Robert Burns Country: The Official Robert Burns Site http://www.robertburns.org/
Robert Burns Tribute http://www.rabbie-burns.com/index.cfm.html
*1:See also http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20050529 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20050622 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20080731/1217435111 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090626/1245979421 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090627/1246076104 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090629/1246248975 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090701/1246414935 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090702/1246502150 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090703/1246591585 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090706/1246850237 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090720/1248058217 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090816/1250355437 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100114/1263496701 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100129/1264776284 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100208/1265568381 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100216/1266351993 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100316/1268711438 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100626/1277524949 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100718/1279478008 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20101224/1293166266 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110324/1300903053 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110723/1311391037
*2:http://www.burnsmuseum.org.uk/
*3:Jen Bowden “Michael Jackson project based on poems of Robert Burns” http://www.list.co.uk/article/39909-michael-jackson-project-based-on-poems-of-robert-burns/
*4:Alison Flood “Michael Jackson goes into studio with Robert Burns” http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/27/michael.jackson.david.gest.robertburns
