We Are the World

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"We Are the World"

Single by USA for Africa
Released	March 7, 1985
Recorded	January 28, 1985
Label	Columbia Records
Writer(s)	Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
Producer(s)	Quincy Jones
Chart positions
#1 (US Hot 100) #1 (UK Singles Chart)

"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.

1 History
2 Selected Vocalists
3 Lyrics
4 Artists With Their lyric
5 Cultural references
6 See also
7 Reference
8 External links

[edit] 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 Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Columbia Records donated their manufacturing and distribution costs to the effort. "We Are the World" hit stores on Tuesday, March 7, 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 1985 Grammys for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

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 Prince, Springsteen, Rogers, Turner and other artists. 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 about $50 million for famine relief.

On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which was aired September 12, 2006, Lionel Richie mentioned that "We Are the World" had 32 lawsuits brought up against the song.^{[citation needed]}

On November 15, 2006 Michael Jackson performed the song in the World Music Awards.[[1]] Kenny Rogers has also performed a solo version of the song, which is featured on a 1986 concert video at Texas stadium.

[edit] Selected Vocalists

[edit] Lyrics

There comes a time / When we heed a certain call / When the world must come together as one / There are people dying / And it's time to lend a hand to life / The greatest gift of all

We can't go on / Pretending day by day / That someone, somewhere will soon make a change / We are all a part of / God's great big family / And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus] We are the world / We are the children / We are the ones who make a brighter day / So let's start giving / There's a choice we're making / We're saving our own lives / It's true we'll make a better day / Just you and me

Send them your heart / So they'll know that someone cares / And their lives will be stronger and free / As God has shown us by turning stone to bread / So we all must lend a helping hand

When you're down and out / There seems no hope at all / But if you just believe / There's no way we can fall / Well, well, well, well, let us realize / That a change will only come / When we stand together as one

[edit] Artists With Their lyric

There comes a time when we heed a certain call - Lionel Richie
When the world must come together as one - Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder
There are people dying - Stevie Wonder
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life - Paul Simon
The greatest gift of all - Paul Simon & Kenny Rogers

We can't go on pretending day by day - Kenny Rogers
That someone, somehow will soon make a change - James Ingram
We're all a part of God's great big family - Tina Turner
And the truth - Billy Joel
You know love is all we need - Tina Turner & Billy Joel

( CHORUS )
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving - Michael Jackson
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives - Diana Ross
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me - Michael Jackson & Diana Ross

Well, send'em you your heart so they know that someone cares - Dionne Warwick
And their lives will be stronger and free - Dionne Warwick & Willie Nelson
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread - Willie Nelson
And so we all must lend a helping hand - Al Jarreau

( REPEAT CHORUS )
We are the world, we are the children - Bruce Springsteen
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving - Kenny Loggins
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives - Steve Perry
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me - Daryl Hall

When you're down and out there seems no hope at all - Michael Jackson
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall - Huey Lewis
Well, well, well, let's realize that a change can only come - Cyndi Lauper
When we - Kim Carnes
stand together as one - Kim Carnes & Cyndi Lauper & Huey Lewis

(REPEAT CHORUS AND FADE )

[edit] Cultural references

[edit] Direct references

[edit] Television

In spring of 1985, during its tenth season, Saturday Night Live featured an opening musical sketch called "I’m Also the World" where Prince (played by Billy Crystal) sings, while fellow musicians Willie Nelson (played by Jim Belushi), Cyndi Lauper (played by Pamela Stephenson), Bruce Springsteen (played by Gary Kroeger), and Paul Simon (played by Martin Short) attempt to perform a duet with him and get beaten up by Prince’s bodyguards (played by then-hosts Hulk Hogan and Mr. T) and back-up singers (played by Mary Gross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

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.

An episode of Married... with Children had Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) and several elderly rockers record a benefit song called, "We Are the Old".

Frank Zappa cited this song on Crossfire when asked what song of the last 20 years he would not like his children to hear.

A spoof called "We Fuck the World" was aired on a French puppet show Les Guignols de l’info, which criticizes the American way of life.

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, mimicing to the original music. Topic for the third season of Gylne Tider was celebrities of the 80s (season still running) and the following appear in the show and music video:

Linda Evans, Limahl, Bruce Boxleitner, Larry Hagman, Lorenzo Lamas, Sabrina, Pat Sharp, Bo Derek, Samantha Fox, Eric Heiden, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Aileen Quinn, Duane Loken, Pamela Sue Martin, Richard Chamberlain, Peter Shilton, Michael Winslow, Sir Cliff Richard, Gary Burghoff, Eddie Edwards, Mark Hamill, Richard Kiel, Glenn Medeiros, Kim Wilde, Mel Smith, Al Corley, Andrew McCarthy, Stephanie Powers, Sandra Kim, Nik Kershaw, Andrew Sachs, Alphaville, Louis Gossett Jr., Ian Rush, The Bangles, Lee Curreri, Tony Hadley, Richard Clayderman, Bananarama, Cutting Crew, Billy Lovelady, Opus, Tiffany, Katrina & The Waves, Tanita Tikaram, Robert Guillaume, and more...

[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.

Solange, a contestant in the Brazilian version of the Big Brother 4 television series, sang a version of "We are the World" called "Iarnuou." The cover was rated #1 on Brazilian airplay for a month.

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".

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.

Cledus T. Judd sings a parody of the song on his first self-titled album, called "We Own The World".

Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song" is an indirect parody of this song.

[edit] Tsunami relief

WQHT-FM, a New York City radio station, broadcast a controversial parody, "USA for Indonesia," on January 18, 2005, which made derisive references to the victims of the recent South Asian tsunami. The station apologized on January 24, 2005 after the parody generated widespread condemnations.

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 [2] 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” To listen follow link: Image:We are all Winners2.ogg

[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 below).

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

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 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 musicains; 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 Whack Pack members of the show entitled "We are the Whack Pack".

[edit] Trivia

Michael Jackson skipped the American Music Awards 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.¹

The artists also discussed, whether they should sing "we are the ones that make a brighter day" instead of the original "better day". They eventually ended up with "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 got 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.

Within the song, Willie Nelson sings, "As God has shown us / by turning stones to bread..." In fact, in the Bible, Jesus was asked by Satan in Matthew 4 to turn stones to bread, but refused.

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:
- Madonna (on tour during the session and eventually turned down the offer)
- Prince (allegedly not comfortable in a room with so many other big stars; however, it was reported that Prince could not be there since he had to bail his bodyguards out jail who were arrested that night)
- Gladys Knight
- Cher
- Liza Minnelli
- Sheena Easton
- Chrissie Hynde
- Patti LaBelle
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
- Ashford & Simpson
- Peter, Paul & Mary
- Joan Baez
- Donna Summer

Both Patti LaBelle and Prince participated in the 1985 television broadcast performance of "We Are the World" from the Apollo Theatre.

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

In 1986, Nina Hagen sung a unique coverversion in German (Wir sind die Welt) during a German television show for the 40th anniversary of UNICEF.

[edit] See also

Tears Are Not Enough Canadian charity single
Do They Know It's Christmas? UK charity single
Hear 'n Aid Heavy Metal artists charity single

Gylne Tider We Are The World 2006 music/promo video

[edit] Reference

¹ Interview with Quincy Jones for official video (1985)

[edit] External links

USA for Africa official web site
""We Are the World" song celebrates 20 years", MSNBC, 2005-02-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-21.

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

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