Jesus to a Child

Michael wrote and produced it as a tribute to Anselmo Feleppa, the Brazilian he met in Rio in 1991, who died two years later. He said it was recorded over five days but written in a couple of hours, and that grief had left him unable to write for the 18 months after Feleppa's death. Its rhythm and harmony are influenced by bossa nova. He first performed it on 24 November 1994 at the inaugural MTV Europe Music Awards, in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. Virgin released it as the first single from Older in January 1996, and before performing it live he regularly dedicated it to Feleppa.

It was his first solo single to enter the UK chart at number one, and his sixth UK number one overall. It also reached number one in Australia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Norway and Spain, and entered the US Hot 100 at number seven, the highest new entry by a British artist in more than 25 years. After Michael's death Esther Rantzen of ChildLine said he had secretly given all the single's royalties to the charity. Howard Greenhalgh directed the video, with ballet dancers, falling piles of dust and Michael standing in a dark room.

The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan called it the best thing on the album and made it Single of the Week. Entertainment Weekly gave it a C minus and called it a tortoise-paced ballad.