ONE PHONE CALL, THREE DAYS, ONE LAST SONG. ■

One night John McClain called ⌜Carole Bayer Sager, said the album was missing one last key song, and wanted her to write it with ⌜Babyface. They had three days to write and record it. They did — and it became the last track recorded for a record where other songs had taken more than two years.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-01 — BAYER SAGER, ON THE CONTRAST

> BAYER SAGER, on where this three-day song landed: an album where other tracks had taken more than two years to complete, “not to mention all of the unused partly finished tracks and vocals… scattered in recording studios across the country.”

FROM HER MEMOIR · They're Playing Our Song, 2016 · documented ■

It replaced “Shout” — the exact date of the swap is less certain than we had it. □

On the final tracklist this cut took the slot held by “Shout” (a Teddy Riley track). A widely-repeated detail holds that an early album DAT dated June 12, 2001 still listed “Shout” — but the one candidate source for that date (a 2018 gottahaverockandroll.com auction listing, “Invincible Alternate Unreleased” DAT) has now been located and read in full, and its own 15-track listing does not include “You Are My Life” at all. This is stronger than an unverified detail — the one located candidate source appears to contradict the claim rather than merely fail to confirm it. Left deliberately unlinked rather than cited to a source that doesn't actually support it; the June 12, 2001 date and its connection to this track need human review, not just re-sourcing. “Shout” later surfaced as a B-side; it's filed in ▤the vault.

A 22-year reunion with Bayer Sager. ■

Co-written by Babyface and Bayer Sager — this was Bayer Sager's first Jackson collaboration since “It's the Falling in Love” on Off the Wall (1979) — 22 years earlier.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-03 — BABYFACE, ON THE ROOM

> BABYFACE: “I acted a little more 'Indianapolis' than I normally would. He always used to say, 'You're funny. We've got the same sense of humor because we're both from Indiana.'”

REPORTED SPEECH, NOT VERBATIM · as told in later interviews · press ▤

A title changed for a writing credit. ■

Per Making Michael (Smallcombe, p.299): Jackson changed the lyrics from “You Are My World” to “You Are My Life,” and received a writing credit in the process.

Mixed against the mastering clock. ■

Engineer Jon Gass mixed the entire track in approximately seven hours to make the mastering deadline.

Dedicated to Prince and Paris. ■

The song is dedicated to Jackson's children, Prince and Paris — a private note tucked inside the fastest-made track on the record, and the last one to make it in before the door closed on the album.