BEFORE: Well, it's all kind of been building up to this, hasn't it? A documentary about the recording of "We Are the World", the big charity single recorded back in 1985. I tend to love docs that are set in a recording studio, that show me the inner workings of how music is made. But I don't watch a lot of movies about how MOVIES are made, go figure. I guess there's just something more honest about crafting a song, there's less trickery or something, it's all less fakey than making a movie somehow.
There are so many music stars making cameos here, I could have slotted this film in just about anywhere in the last week or so - but then I just didn't want to throw it away by making it the middle film of a three-part set, the question became, where would it do me the most good? Where would I need it, where would it HAVE to go? There's footage from the Band-Aid single, so a lot of British musicians in addition to the U.S. ones - but in the end it didn't matter, because I moved things around to get that other David Bowie doc in the mix. Still, this serves the purpose of connecting the docs about the U.S. 80's acts with the U.K. 80's acts, you'll see.
Madonna and Michael Jackson carry over from "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy".
THE PLOT: On January 28, 1985, dozens of the era's most popular musicians gathered in Los Angeles to record a charity single for African famine relief. Setting egos aside, they collaborated on a song that would make history.
AFTER: God, there's so much for me to love about this documentary - first there's the behind-the-scenes making of a song that EVERYBODY in my generation remembers. We remember where we were when we heard it the first time, we remember watching it on MTV over and over, and we remember what a BIG DEAL it was that (nearly) everybody who was anybody in 1985 got together in one room and worked together for a good cause. Famine relief, right? I mean I think in the 1980's all the charity records were about famine, even Farm Aid was about feeding the farmers which is weird because usually they're the ones who are supposed to be feeding us. Wait, Hands Across America wasn't to fight hunger, what was THAT deal again? I guess it was to fight hunger and homelessness and poverty, so i guess it didn't work because we still have all of those things.
But let's focus on the production of "We Are the World", which was the brainchild of Harry Belafonte, originally, but piggy-backing on the success of the Band-Aid song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which featured an all-star line-up of singers and musicians from the U.K. Harry Belafonte wanted to repeat that success with American talent, but singing "Do They Know It's the Fourth of July" didn't seem to make much sense, so they had to go a different route. Belafonte contacted the key personnel for "USA for Africa", (which I didn't know until today was an acronym standing for United Support of Artists, not United States of America). Belafonte called Ken Kragen, who in addition to being a fundraiser was the manager of Lionel Richie - So Kragen called Richie, who called Michael Jackson, and Jacko called in Quincy Jones, and they all tried to call Stevie Wonder, who didn't call them back right away. Stevie's funny like that, but maybe he just couldn't find the phone. Or he lost the number and couldn't find it, it happens.
Anyway, these key four called in all their friends and the top recording artists of the day, and there was something of a domino effect, if they got Bruce Springsteen to commit, then they could work on Bob Dylan. If they got Kenny Rogers, maybe they could also get Willie Nelson, and so on. And if they got Daryl Hall, they'd probably also get John Oates, they were kind of a two-fer. And they locked in Sheila E., thinking they'd get Prince to come along, but Prince doesn't really play that game. He eventually agreed to come and do a guitar part, provided he could record in another room and not have to interact with the other talent, but they just didn't want it to work that way. One room, one night, one session, check your egos at the door.
They did have a singular opportunity to get everyone together because of the American Music Awards, an event where Lionel Richie was already scheduled to be the host, and most famous recording artists were planning to attend, especially if they were nominated for something. So everybody agreed, with 90% of the recording industry already planning to be in L.A. that weekend, that would be their shot to get everyone together and record something - and nobody got paid, either, it was all pro bono, except Bono wasn't there.
But a lot of people were, Ray Charles and Dionne Warwick, Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis (kids, ask your parents), Steve Perry from Journey, Kenny Loggins, the Pointer Sisters, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes (look her up), and somehow even Dan Aykroyd got caught up in it, no, we didn't quite understand that at the time, either. Sure, he was a Blues Brother, but he was primarily known for his comedy and not his singing ability. I think he snuck in by pretending to be the parking valet or something.
What I never knew before watching this was that someone had to not only arrange the song, but figure out who was going to sing each line on the solos. Thankfully that was someone with a brain who did their research, and he figured out, OK, Dionne Warwick has THIS kind of voice, it's soft and gentle, so let's follow her with Willie Nelson, who has a gravelly voice, and then Al Jarreau comes back in with a velvet one, and so on. AND IT WORKED, almost just like this guy planned it would. So they had the line-up, they sent out demo tapes and instructions to all of the participants, and said the studio's location would be revealed only in person, immediately after the awards ceremony.
Now, bear in mind all of these stars had just been through a whole awards ceremony, those can go on for HOURS, so I hope they also told everybody to sleep in that morning, because the recording session went until 5 am or so. Jeez, even the superstars were bound to get a bit gamey after staying up so long and then working in close quarters in a tight sound studio, under those impressive lights, because they were also filming the music video at the same time.
This is the other part of the documentary that I love so much - seeing that the stars are just like us normal people, only they might even be a little more screwed up. All it took was one person asking another for their autograph, and suddenly everybody wanted everybody else to sign their lyrics sheet, and so there had to be a 15-minute break where everybody did this, but hey, if any of these stars got to meet their idols, and got a chance to feel starstruck themselves for once, maybe they knew after that what it was like for their fans to meet them.
They recorded the chorus first, with everyone singing in unison, and if the song was out of somebody's range, well, too bad. Don't sing the octave, that won't sound right, and don't sing harmony, because we're trying to project unity, one voice. So that meant some people who were known for being drummers or guitarists or Bob Dylan had to just move their mouths AS IF they were singing, for the sake of the music video. But many of them were not. Scandalous!
And then Stevie Wonder got the bright idea that there should be some lyrics in Swahili, that would be culturally appropriate so the starving people in Ethiopia could understand the song. All this time I didn't know this really happened, I thought it was just a joke I saw in a Doonesbury strip. But no, he suggested this, which made Waylon Jennings suddenly decide he had to leave, he wasn't going to be part of any song sung in an African language. Sheila E. also bailed out early when she figured out that they only invited her so Prince would swing by and pick her up. Plus there was no drum part to the song, so she felt out of place, I guess.
Other people were cut loose after the recording of the chorus, they weren't selected for solo lines in the verses of the song. I think this meant that after the meal break, the Pointer Sisters, John Oates and Bette Midler were cut loose - also all non-essential (non-Michael) Jacksons. Sure, I can see sending Lindsey Buckingham home early, but Smokey Robinson? The News got kicked out the door, but Huey Lewis benefitted from Prince never showing up, this kicked him up to a line in the bridge that they'd been saving for His Purple Majesty. And it's so great that Huey was neurotic about singing with the headliners, but he totally nailed it.
Finally it came down to just the overdubs, the "really big fills", as Quincy Jones called it. This was left for Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and Bruce had just come off his massive U.S. tour, so his voice was very tired, and Bob Dylan was, well, Bob Dylan. Remember, he didn't sing on the chorus, he just stood there looking confused while pretending to sing. So they gave him a chance to sing on the last chorus, but again, it seemed like he was out of place or maybe didn't know where he was or what they expected him to do. Thankfully Stevie Wonder took him aside and sang his part to him, and he imitated Dylan's vocal style to inspire him. Take two, and Dylan came alive with his signature voice, seemingly out of nowhere, and it was somehow exactly what the song needed. For some young people this might have been the first time they'd heard Bob Dylan on a record, and sure, it probably led to kids imitating his funny way of singing, but it's such an amazing shock in this film when Dylan proves that yes, he was in fact paying attention.
Then it was just up to the Boss to bring it home, again in that last chorus, it just needed a little something extra, and Springsteen took it over the top, with whatever he had left in the tank. Remember this last bit was recorded around 6 am, he'd been up all night, and while he hadn't been at the American Music Awards, he'd just flown in from Buffalo, the last stop on his tour. Well, sure, everybody's happier and full of energy once they leave Buffalo, right?
Like this song, this documentary is just one surprise after another, from what crazy things went on at Michael Jackson's house during the writing session with Lionel Richie, to finding out which singer got drunk (Al Jarreau) and also learning to be thankful that the Beach Boys were not invited. They only would have wanted to add harmonies to the chorus, anyway.
Also, isn't this the kind of documentary we all need right now, when our country is more fractured and divisive than ever, and our two-party system has nearly put us on the brink of Civil War II? Can't we all just take a minute and review what can be possible if, I don't know, everybody could just focus on a common goal. Just one, that's all I ask - it can be climate change or figuring out whether abortion should be legal or finding a place to put homeless people that doesn't involve putting them on a bus to another mayor's city? Let's start small and pick one thing that we all agree on (I know, that's the tough part) and raise some money and, you know, try to fix it. We'll all feel better about ourselves, even if we don't accomplish the goal, but we'll feel better for having tried. It's maybe worth a shot?
Also starring Tom Bähler, David Breskin, Bob Dickinson, Sheila E. (last seen in "Summer of Soul"), Humberto Gatica, Steven Ivory, Quincy Jones (last seen in "Love to Love You, Donna Summer"), Dionne Warwick (ditto), Larry Klein, Cyndi Lauper (last seen in "Bitchin': The Sound and Fury of Rick James"), Huey Lewis (last seen in "Rock 'n' Roll High School"), Kenny Loggins, Wendy Rees, Lionel Richie (last seen in "Little Richard: I Am Everything"), Bruce Springsteen (ditto), Smokey Robinson (last seen in "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over"), Harriet Sternberg, Ken Woo,
with archive footage of Dan Aykroyd (last seen in "Belushi"), Ray Charles (ditto), Philip Bailey (last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Harry Belafonte (last seen in "What Happened, Miss Simone?"), Stephen Bishop, Bono (last seen in "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman"), George Michael (ditto), Christie Brinkley (last seen in "Jack and Jill"), Tom Brokaw (also carrying over from "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy"), Diana Ross (ditto), Lindsey Buckingham (last seen in "The Beach Boys"), Bob Dylan (ditto), Al Jardine (ditto), Bruce Johnston (ditto), Mike Love (ditto), David Byrne (last seen in "New Wave: Dare to Be Different"), Kim Carnes, Dick Clark (also seen in "Little Richard: I Am Everything"), Freddie Mercury (ditto), Prince (ditto), Tina Turner (ditto), Phil Collins (last seen in "Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away"), Courteney Cox (last seen in "De Palma"), Lola Falana, Bob Geldof (last seen in "Pavarotti"), Mark Goodman (last seen in "McEnroe"), Daryl Hall (last seen in "You Again"), John Oates (ditto), James Ingram, Jackie Jackson (last seen in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown"), Marlon Jackson (ditto), Tito Jackson (ditto), LaToya Jackson, Randy Jackson, Al Jarreau (last seen in "Quincy"), Waylon Jennings (last seen in "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind"), Kenny Rogers (ditto), Billy Joel (last seen in "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives"), Martin Luther King (last seen in "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll"), Ken Kragen, Bette Midler (last heard in "The Addams Family 2"), Willie Nelson (last seen in "Bathtubs Over Broadway"), Billy Ocean, Jeffrey Osborne, Steve Perry (last seen in "Can We Take a Joke?"), Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer, David Lee Roth, Paul Simon (last seen in "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street"), Rick Springfield (last seen in "13 Going on 30"), Sting (last seen in "Air"), Eddie Van Halen (last seen in "The Dirt"), Sarah Vaughan (also last seen in "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over"), Jack Wagner, Stevie Wonder (last seen in "American Symphony")
RATING: 8 out of 10 orders of chicken and waffles from Roscoe's
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