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Late into the night on January 28, 1985, perhaps the largest collection of pop, rock, and country stars in history gathered in one room at Hollywood’s A&M Recording Studio to record the charity single “We Are the World.” I did. In search of funds to fight hunger in Africa, particularly Ethiopia, the great Stevie Wonder proposed the idea of singing a chorus in Swahili.
Although this was a well-intentioned suggestion, the recording session was interrupted.
As the great Waylon Jennings said, “Well, no good ol’ boy ever sang Swahili. Consider me out of here.”
“Pop’s Greatest Night”
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson and was essentially the talent handler on the day of recording, created a charming and breezy “The Greatest Night in Pop.” He looked back on that moment in an interview. A documentary about that night’s recording session.
“Waylon walked out the door and said, ‘I’m not dealing with this. I don’t know what that means,'” Ritchie says. “And we lost Waylon there.”
The footage cuts to archived footage, and a voice can be heard off-camera saying, “They don’t speak Swahili in Ethiopia.”
Bob Geldof’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” had been the inspiration for a USA for Africa fundraiser the previous year, but respectfully encouraged Wonder to drop the idea. “There’s no point in talking to people who are starving,” he tells Wonder. The notion that “we’re talking to people who have money to donate” is discarded.
It’s these little tidbits and anecdotes that make this documentary such a compelling watch. For example, Paul Simon looks around a room full of superstars and jokes that if a bomb were to go off in the studio, John Denver would be back on top. Or when Ray Charles wanted to go to the bathroom and Wonder offered to show him where it was.
“We Are the World” producer Quincy Jones (center) gives advice to Willie Nelson (left) and Bruce Springsteen.
Directed by Bao Nguyen, it features multi-camera recordings of the night of the sessions and new interviews with Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis, Smokey Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, and the technicians on site. skillfully combined. Greatest Night in Pop is the story behind the creation of a single that sold 20 million copies worldwide, won multiple Grammy Awards, and, most importantly, raked in over $60 million in 1985. This is a wonderful behind-the-scenes record.
Indeed, the song itself could be likened to a Pepsi jingle, as critic Greil Marcus wrote at the time. But “We Are the World” was a compassion commercial.
Springsteen, who had just finished his “Born in the USA” tour and was having a blast the night of the recording, said the song was primarily a tool to deliver a message, a rallying cry for help. Says. It was a great success.
The first half of the 95-minute documentary follows the songwriting process as Richie and Jackson rush to complete the song on the night of January 25th, when dozens of international stars will perform. American Music Awards Los Angeles.
Produced by Quincy Jones and complete with a handwritten sign that read “Check your ego at the door,” the 46-member supergroup spent eight hours completing the song.
It’s so much fun to hear Dionne Warwick’s honey-coated voice mesh with Willie Nelson’s raw yet smooth vocals, and Wonder uses her incredible imitation skills to give Bob Dylan the impression that Dylan It’s really fun to see how they showed how much they can contribute lines.
There were some bittersweet moments. Sheila E. recalled how organizers kept trying to get Prince to come. I just…started to feel like I was being taken advantage of, [that I’m] They’re here because they want Prince to appear. …I said to Lionel, “I’m going.” It was a little heartbreaking because they didn’t intend for me to sing the verses. ”
‘We Are the World’ co-writer Lionel Richie secures Cyndi Lauper’s signature.
Prince wanted to perform the guitar solo in a separate room, but this song had no guitar solo and was intended to get everyone in the same room. He was absent.
But mostly, “The Greatest Night in Pop” is a celebration.
Looking back all these years later, I remember being used to being the biggest star in the room back in the days when there were no text messages or emails and we had to communicate via fax, messenger, or landline phone. In some ways, it’s a miracle that there were so many performers. Coming together in a relatively short period of time, he agreed to find a way to record one of the most influential singles in music history.
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