We Are the World

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For the album with the same title, see We Are the World (album).
“We Are the World”
“We Are the World” cover
Single by USA for Africa
Released March 7, 1985
Format CD, 7"
Recorded January 28, 1985
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie
Producer Quincy Jones, Michael Omartian
USA for Africa singles chronology
- "We Are the World"
(1985)

"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. [1] The charity single was intended to raise funds to help famine-relief efforts in Ethiopia,[1] which experienced unusual drought in 1984/1985.

The project was inspired by the British Band Aid project and helped inspire other projects around the world such as "Cantaré, Cantarás" in Latin America.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Selected vocalists

[edit] 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. Later into the song they intensify the climax of the song with a key change from E to F.

The arrangement created a dramatic effect by having the entire group sing together only after many of the celebrity singers are revealed in solo parts through two repetitions of the chorus and the bridge is sung by Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Kim Carnes, and Cyndi Lauper.

[edit] 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.[2]
  • 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...").
  • Cyndi Lauper's jewelry clicking required a retake of the bridge section.
  • 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."
  • 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.
  • 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. Pavarotti peformed the song at one of his annual charity concerts in 1999 with the likes of Gloria Estefan and Mariah Carey.
  • 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".

[edit] Chart performance

When released as a single, "We Are The World" rose up the charts rapidly in the U.S., reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 17, 1985 and remaining there for four weeks. It was also ranked as Billboard's #1 song of 1985, meaning it was the best-selling single of the year. It also reached #1 in the UK, and made the Top 10 in countries throughout the world.

Country Peak
position
Australia 1
Austria 2
Belgium 1
Brazil 4
Canada 1
Denmark 1
France 1
Ireland 1
Italy 1
Japan 2
The Netherlands 1[3]
New Zealand 1
Norway 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 1
United Kingdom 1
United States 1

[edit] Cultural references

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[edit] Direct references

[edit] Television and movies

  • The trio "Tito, Vic and Joey" (Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon) recorded a parody of the song called "Maid in the Philippines". It was used as soundtrack to their 1985 movie, I Have Three Hands. The spoof song talks about household helpers, the theme of the movie. They also parodied the music video of the song.
  • In the 1987 film comedy "Dragnet," Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) expressed his digust over the knowledge that "a smut peddler like Jerry Caesar can build a modern-day Gomorrah smack-dab in the same city where they recorded "We Are the World." Aykroyd had been part of the song's chorus two years earlier.
  • In the mid-1980s, the New Zealand satirical show McPhail & Gadsby featured a spoof called "We Are the Worms" with a slightly modified tune. The lead singer was then-Prime Minister David Lange, as played by David McPhail. The idea behind the song was that New Zealand was a small country trying to spread goodwill in international politics, though whether it was complimentary is open to question.
  • Frank Zappa cited this song on Crossfire when asked what song of the last 20 years he would not like his children to hear.[1]
  • British satire show Spitting Image performed a spoof version called "We're Scared of Bob".
  • Chilean television show CQC performed a spoof version called "No seai' weón" (don't be silly) in one of the programs of the 2006 season. Journalist Fernando Lasalvia composed it and he appeared singing the song with Chilean television people of Chv Channel and Mega Channel . The lyrics were a protest against the politics of Canal 13 and TVN. These channels have prohibited the use of their images in other television channels' programs.
  • Norwegian television show Gylne Tider (Golden Times) shot a "We Are the World" music/promo video during production of the third season of the series. The video was aired only once (October 28, 2006 on TV2) prior to the season premiere and featured all celebrities appearing in the upcoming season, mimicking to the original music.
  • The Simpsons episode Radio Bart parodies the celebrity charity chorus when Bart tricks the town into believing a young boy has fallen down the local well. Rock star Sting guest stars in the episode, and leads the song "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well", along with several Simpsons characters. The recording of the song within the show appears much like the original We Are The World video clip.

[edit] Music

  • 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 supposed hatred of homosexuals and others. They also created a music video for it as well.[4]
  • 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".
  • 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Commercial exploitation
  • The oil company Royal Dutch Shell attracted some controversy in 2006[5] 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”

[edit] 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.
  • 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".
  • 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 him: 'Huey, did you see them fuck at all?'" which Lewis follows with "Yes, I saw them fuck. They were in a bathroom stall."

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b "We Are the World by U.S.A. For Africa" (notes), Songfacts, 2002, webpage: Songfacts-1560.
  2. ^ Interview with Quincy Jones for official video (1985).
  3. ^ De Nederlandse Top 40, week 16, 1985. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  4. ^ http://religion.netscape.com/story/2007/06/25/god-hates-the-world
  5. ^ FT.com / Columnists / Lucy Kellaway - A distinct lack of value-add from this year’s top twaddlists
  6. ^ Bio-Rad - Scientists for Better PCR

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"One More Night" by Phil Collins		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
April 13, 1985 - May 4, 1985		 Succeeded by
"Crazy for You" by Madonna
Preceded by
"Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey & Phil Collins		 UK number one single
April 14, 1985		 Succeeded by
"Move Closer" by Phyllis Nelson
Preceded by
"Johnny, Johnny" by Jeanne Mas		 French (SNEP) number one single
May 5, 1985 - May 19, 1985		 Succeeded by
"Éthiopie" by Chanteurs sans Frontières