The Rodent-Inspired Ballad That Donny Osmond Turned Down Became an Early Hit for Michael Jackson in 1972

When Don Black and Walter Scharf were working on the music for the horror film Ben, the 1972 sequel to Willard, released a year earlier, they wanted a sentimental ballad of the same name as the theme song. Ben follows the story of a young boy who befriends a rat, who ends up rounding up more rats to attack humans.

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Composed by Scharf and written by Black, both wanted to be careful not to include any rodent language in the song. Instead, “Ben” tells the story of a misunderstood and loyal friend.

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I’ll never be alone
And you, my friend will see
You’ve got a friend in me (you’ve got ot a friend in me)

Ben, you’re always running here and there (here and there)
You feel you’re not wanted anywhere (anywhere)
If you ever look behind
And don’t like what you find
There’s something you should know
You’ve got a place to go (you’ve got a place to go)

Initially, the song was meant for Donny Osmond, but he was unavailable and touring, which led them to offer the song to Michael Jackson, who was 13 when it was released.

In the film, “Ben” is performed by Lee Montgomery, while Jackson’s version plays during the final scene and end credits.

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A Rat and a Puppy

Recorded at the Motown studio in Los Angeles in October 1971, “Ben” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and also served as s the title of Jackson’s second solo album, released that year. Jackson’s “Ben” won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and also picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

In 1972, Osmond, then 14, also released his own hit, “Puppy Love,” giving him and Jackson some early animal-centric chart toppers. “Michael and I would talk about this all the time,” Osmond told the Huffington Post. “It’s funny because we eventually ended up laughing at this one. I will never forget. We stayed up to like two in the morning, laughing about the fact that I had a hit about a puppy and he had a hit about a rat.”

A year apart in age, Jackson and Osmond—born in 1958 and 1957, respectively—quickly bonded as teens. Both started their careers in family bands, then continued as solo artists.

“Michael said something to me one day,” recalled Osmond in 2024. “He said, ‘Donny, you’re the only person on this planet that knows what my childhood was like.’”

In 2003, Crispin Glover also recorded a version of “Ben” for the soundtrack of the remake of Willard, which he starred in. More than a decade later, Osmond finally recorded his own version of “Ben” on his 2014 album, The Soundtrack of My Life. 

Photo: Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images