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The question has been asked: “Who is ‘Annie‘? (from Smooth Criminal)?”

Well, Annie is the name of the CPR practice dummy. When you take a CPR class, you’re taught to make sure the victim is OK, so you yell “Annie, Annie, are you OK?” before you start CPR or artificial respiraton. If the victim responds, they likely are not in need of CPR. If they do not respond, then CPR may be called for. The lyric is directly related to the CPR training. (ie: “Mouth To Mouth Resuscitation, Sounding Heartbeats, Intimidations“…)

Also interesting to note about the song is that the heartbeat at the beginning of the recorded song is actually Michael’s. The opening heartbeat was recorded by Dr. Eric Chevlan, and digitally processed using a synclavier.

The voice of the police chief who says, “Okay, I want everybody to clear the area right now!” is Bruce Swedien. ‘Smooth Criminal‘ was the seventh single on Michael’s 1987 ‘Bad‘ album. It charted No. 2 on the R&B singles chart and No. 7 on the Hot 100 in the States, and No. 8 in the UK (where it gave Michael a record seventh Top 30 hit from one album). It was No.1 in Belgium and Holland.

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