I was in junior high when I first heard “We are the World.” I was telling my classmates about it, saying it was a recording of bunch of pop singers under the name “USA for Africa.” “The ‘USA,’ in ‘USA for Africa,’ I tried to explain, “stands for ‘United Support of Artists.'” My friend JC replied, “You mean all this time we thought it stood for United States….” At this point both the irreversibility and the slowness of time converged on my friend as he surely thought “Oh no. I’m about to say the dumbest thing I can possibly say and there’s not anything I can do to take it back or stop it!” Have we not all been there? We laughed then and I still laugh now when I think about it.
And I got to think about it again as I watched The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary on the making of “We are the World,” now playing on Netflix. I enjoyed this film even more than I thought I would. It’s a great trip down memory lane for those of us who are so-shaped by the 1980’s. It’s so fun to watch these A-list musicians struggle with the music, debate the lyrics, and then nail their part.
I particularly enjoyed Lionel Richie‘s recollection of writing the song with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan trying to find his place in the choir, and Waylon Jennings deciding he didn’t belong at all and walking out after Stevie Wonder was trying to convince everyone to sing in Swahili. But fellow country artists Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson represented Nashville well by sticking with it and doing a bang-up job.
It was also fascinating to hear Tom Bahler talk about writing the vocal arrangements and selecting the soloists. Most of all, my respect for producer Quincy Jones continues to rise and the documentary shows both his musical and leadership skills working with SO MANY strong personalities (talk about herding cats!).
If you’re a student of music, pop culture, leadership, or grew up with the song, I recommend you check it out. If you see JC, tell him I said “hey!” And that USA still stands for United States of America.
Click here to watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix.
Over to you: Have you seen this? What did you think?
Read my comment policy.
