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We Are the World

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"We Are the World" is a 1985 song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced and conducted by Quincy Jones and recorded by a supergroup of popular musicians billed as USA for Africa. The charity single was intended to raise funds to help famine-relief efforts in Ethiopia, which experienced unusual drought in 1984/1985.

History

Harry Belafonte initiated the idea for a fundraising effort. His manager, Ken Kragen, suggested the multi-artist approach, inspired by the success of the British supergroup Band Aid and their 1984 fundraising single "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

The performers gathered at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, on January 28, 1985. Kragen selected the night of the American Music Awards to ensure as many artists as possible could attend. Jones famously advised them, in his written invitation, to "check your egos at the door." In all, 45 musicians attended the recording session, including Bob Geldof, who had arranged the Band Aid effort in the United Kingdom. Lead vocals were rotated among 21 of the performers, including Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Perry, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Kim Carnes and Ray Charles (see list, below).

Columbia Records donated their manufacturing and distribution costs to the effort. "We Are the World" hit stores on Tuesday, March 5, 1985, and all 800,000 copies sold out before the end of the weekend. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number twenty-one. On April 5 (Good Friday in that year), more than 5,000 radio stations played the song at the same time. It became the United States’ number one single on April 13 and held the position for four weeks.

The song went on to win four 1986 Grammys for: Song of the Year, Record of the Year, , Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Music Video, Short Form.

Ultimately, the single sold 7.5 million copies in the US. It was released on an album, We Are the World, which sold over three million copies. In addition to "We Are the World," the album included previously unreleased songs by Tina Turner, Prince, Springsteen, Rogers, Chicago, Huey Lewis and the News, Steve Perry, and The Pointer Sisters. It also included another famine relief fundraising song, "Tears Are Not Enough", which was performed by Canadian supergroup Northern Lights.

Including revenues from the single, the album, the video and related merchandise, "We Are the World" raised over $63 million for famine relief.

Lionel Richie stated that "We Are the World" had 11 lawsuits brought up against the song (claiming others had written the song).

On November 15, 2006 Michael Jackson performed the song in the World Music Awards and also performed a solo version which is now on his The Ultimate Collection Boxset which was released in 2004. Kenny Rogers has also performed a solo version of the song, which is featured on a 1986 concert video at Texas stadium.

Selected vocalists

Lyrical format

During the performance, the solo portions, sung by the lead singers, allowed their distinctive, famous voices to be heard individually, or in pairs, for several minutes, before the entire group sang the third repetition of the chorus verses.

Also note the dramatic effect of delaying the entire group singing until many of the celebrity singers had each been revealed in solo parts through 2 repetitions of the "We are the world" chorus section. The singing by the full group was even delayed until after the interlude/break in the melody, sung by Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Kim Carnes, with Cyndi Lauper building the crescendo into the entire group singing "We are the world, we are the children...."

Chart performance

Country Peak
position
Australia 1
Austria 2
Belgium 1
Canada 1
Denmark 1
France 1
Ireland 1
Italy 1
Japan 2
The Netherlands 1
New Zealand 1
Norway 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 1
United Kingdom 1
United States 1

Cultural references

Direct references

Television and movies

Music

  • At the end of Live Aid in Philadelphia, Lionel Richie made a surprise appearance and performed the song live along with some other performers from the show.

  • The group Culturcide covered the song as "They're Not the World," with new lyrics which accused USA for Africa of being more concerned with publicity than with charity.

  • Members of Westboro Baptist Church wrote and recorded their own version of the song titled "God Hates The World" in reference to God's hatred of homosexuals and others. They also created a music video for it as well.

  • Avant Garde music group The Residents have recorded two versions of this song. One a frenetic word for word cover, one sung to the melody with new lyrics.

  • In 1986, Nina Hagen sang a unique cover-version in German ("Wir sind die Welt") during a German television show for the 40th anniversary of UNICEF.

  • Rick Dees' album I'm Not Crazy carries a parody of the song as its first track, entitled "We Are The Weird".

  • David Bowie criticized the song in the lyrics of his 1993 single "Black Tie White Noise".

  • Faith No More spoofed the song with a song of their own, entitled "We Care a Lot".

  • Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this Lounge style song on their 2005 album Aperitif for Destruction. Near the end of the song Richard Cheese makes a joke about Michael Jackson.

  • Country music parodist Cledus T. Judd recorded a parody of the song, called "We Own The World", on his debut album, Cledus T. Judd (No Relation). The song lampoons the short-lived marriage of Lisa Marie Presley to Michael Jackson, with Judd portraying the part of Michael Jackson.

  • A shortened version of the song was performed during World Music Awards 2006. Michael Jackson performed the song with a youth choir.

  • thescambaiter.com, An online fraud fighting group, based their 2007 track, "We Are The Baiters", on the original. Recorded over 2 weeks with participating singers emailing in their parts to be included in the song. The song celebrates scam baiting, the sport of wasting fraudsters' time so as to hinder their ability to scam.

  • André-Philippe Gagnon became world-wide popular by imitating this song. Already famous in Québec, André-Philippe Gagnon started a world tour upon this imitation. He later had a daily show in Las Vegas.

Tsunami relief

  • Steve Burguiere, head producer of the Glenn Beck Program, and his group, Stu & the Blackhearts, recorded a cover of the song in which he and other members of the staff mimicked the original singers. The remake raised over $15,000 for tsunami victims.

  • A wide array of Hong Kong artists collaborated on a Cantonese cover to fund relief.

Commercial exploitation

  • The oil company Royal Dutch Shell attracted some controversy in 2006 when they adopted the music, and some of the lyrics, of the song (renamed “Growing and Winning”) for an internal motivational anthem. Intended to inspire staff the words included such phrases as “Now we’re on a journey, to streamline the way we work, and build a global enterprise” and “…we have moved on, growing day by day sharing strengths, we practice what is best - we are all a part of Shell’s global family”

  • Bio-Rad's "Scientists for Better PCR" song.

Charity song references

The following cultural references do not directly parody or mention "We Are the World," but are arguably inspired by the charity song trend of which "We Are the World" was a part:

  • The Simpsons parodied the song in the episode "Radio Bart," which featured the song, "We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well." This also mentions the "limo" situation (see "limosines" below). The song was again parodied in the episode "Million Dollar Abie" in which celebrity impersonators including a Michael Jackson lookalike unite to sing a song entitled "Springfield Blows".

  • The Critic did a "We Are the World"-style song with Movie critics when Jay Sherman was in Iraq.

  • On comedian Mitch Hedburg's first album, Strategic Grill Locations, he references this song in a joke concerning how certain songs are special to couples: "We are the world, we are the children... remember that, sweetie? That night I fucked you in the pet cemetery?"

  • Duckman featured a "We Are the World"-type song called "We Are There" in the episode "America the Beautiful".

  • At the end of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, an ensemble of former child actors perform a "relief song" for former child actors. It is shot in the style of the video for "We Are the World".

  • On the television show Married… with Children, the Bundy family joins a group of former musicians for their song for Old Aid.

  • A 1987 Portuguese charity single called "Amor E A Paz" from the record Amor & Paz (Love & Peace), and performed by various Portuguese American singers—members of the AUA (Artistas Unidos da América)—including the producer Marc Dennis and the singer Jorge Ferreira.

  • A 1995 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien featured a song called "Help With Your Heart," in which Sting shows up as the only celebrity and eventually sings some lines of nonsense.

  • Saturday Night Live, following the 1992 Los Angeles riots, performed a song called "Recurring Characters for Unity," in which recurring characters such as the Cajun Man, two Swerski Superfans, Nat X, and others urged viewers: "let’s stay calm / let’s build not burn / and let the fighting end."

  • An earlier Saturday Night Live sketch spoofed the trend with a song calling for the liberation of chickens, called "Musicians for Free-Range Chickens". This sketch was "hosted" by Casey Kasem (played by Dana Carvey). The only musician who played himself was Michael Bolton. The others were imitating real musicians; for example, Adam Sandler portrayed Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and Chris Farley portrayed Carnie Wilson. Saturday Night Live also did three other charity song spoofs, "Play on Michael" (following Michael Jordan's first retirement from the NBA), "Rockers to Help Explain Whitewater", and "Set Our Nanny Free".

  • The Howard Stern Show in 2005 did a version based on The Wack Pack members of the show entitled "We are the Wack Pack".

  • The "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Don't Download This Song" parodies the charity song trend, with all of the voices in the chorus being Yankovic.

  • English rockers Pulp spoof the charity single in their video for "Bad Cover Version," which features an assortment of celebrity impersonators (such as Missy Elliott, Mick Jagger, William Shatner, and Elton John) doing a bad cover version of the selfsame song. The video features an impersonator of lead singer Jarvis Cocker, who in turn appears at the end of the video as Queen guitarist Brian May.

  • A 2007 television promo for the show My Name is Earl features cast members singing a song called "Free Earl" as an advertisement for a new season of the show.

  • In February 2008, a skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live featured a number of musicians and actors/actresses performing a song in response to the video Kimmel's girlfriend, Sarah Silverman, made about her and Matt Damon having sex with one another. Notably, one of the musicians from We Are The World, Huey Lewis, performs on this song. Also of note is the similar rhyming scheme of the lyrics sung by Lewis in both songs. In "We Are The World", Michael Jackson sings "When you're down and out there seems no hope at all" which Lewis follows with "But if you just believe there's no way we can fall." In the Kimmel skit, Cameron Diaz sings "Oh yeah, I'll ask 'em Huey. Did you see them fuck at all" which Lewis follows with "I saw them fuck. They were in a bathroom stall."

Recording session details

The recording session in January 1985 was held during and after the American Music Awards. Michael Jackson skipped the American Music Awards ceremony that night to record the chorus of the song as a guide to the other artists.

  • The lyric "there’s a choice we’re making / we’re saving our own lives" was originally written as "there’s a chance we’re taking / we’re taking our own lives" but was rewritten when it was feared the original phrasing's first part might look like the artists are patting themselves on the back while the last part might suggest suicide.

  • The artists also discussed whether they should sing "we are the ones who make a brighter day" instead of the original "better day". They eventually ended up singing "brighter day."

  • VH-1’s Pop-Up Video stated that Waylon Jennings left the recording session due to a dispute over the lyrics. The dispute started when Stevie Wonder announced that he would like to substitute a line in Swahili. After a few rehearsals, a full-fledged creative conflict broke out. Geldof pointed out that Ethiopians do not speak Swahili. Michael Jackson then proposed to keep his original line "Sha-lim sha-lingay" but after a few rehearsals, it too ran into opposition, because it does not have a meaning. Eventually Al Jarreau cried, "We can make a meaning" and came up with "One World, our word" which was changed one last time in "One world, our children."

  • The group name "U.S.A. for Africa" actually stands for "United Support of Artists for Africa" (not "United States...").

  • For a charity event, all artists who performed on "We Are the World" turned up at the studio in limousines (as most of them had participated in the American Music Awards) - except Bruce Springsteen, who arrived driving a pickup truck.

  • Among the singers who allegedly declined offers to sing on the recording included:

Both Patti LaBelle and Prince participated in the 1985 television broadcast performance of "We Are the World" from the Apollo Theatre, and many of the above names participated in the performance of "We Are the World" at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in July of 1985.

  • Most of the singers on the record are American, with the exception of Bob Geldof (who is Irish) and Dan Aykroyd (who is Canadian).

  • Linda Ronstadt missed the taping due to a bout with the flu.

  • Pat Benatar was not available due to her pregnancy, since there was concern the bright lights and number of people in the studio would not have made it feasible for her to be present in the studio.

  • John Denver, who had been actively campaigning against world hunger in the 1980s, had offered to participate in the recording, but was turned down.

  • Prince telephoned Quincy Jones in mid session and offered to contribute a guitar part, but Jones said it didn't fit into what they were doing, but did say he would accept a solo track for the album, which Prince did contribute.

  • The recording had to be briefly stopped due to Cyndi Lauper's jewelry clicking.

  • Stevie Wonder came back after the session to "touch up" his vocals.

  • During a break in the session, the group broke out into an impromptu version of Harry Belafonte's 1950s hit "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" which led to a suggestion, "This should be the B-Side."

Although Michael Jackson and his brothers were at the recording, sister Janet, who would have her first hit album a year later, was not. Another Jackson sister, LaToya, who would later be fodder for the tabloids, did participate. Also, brother Jermaine was the only Jackson brother who did not attend the recording. Billy Joel used the meeting with Ray Charles to get him to contribute a vocal on a song that Joel later recorded called "Baby Grand".

See also

Notes

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 07:25:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
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