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USA For Africa's version
| Lionel Richie: | There comes a time when we heed a certain call |
| Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder: | When the world must come together as one |
| Stevie Wonder: | There are people dying |
| Paul Simon: | Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life |
| Paul Simon and Kenny Rogers: | The greatest gift of all |
| Kenny Rogers: | We can't go on pretending day by day |
| James Ingram: | That someone, somewhere will soon make a change |
| Tina Turner: | We're all a part of God's great big family |
| Billy Joel: | And the truth |
| Tina Turner and Billy Joel: | You know, love is all we need |
| Michael Jackson: | We are the world, we are the children |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving | |
| Diana Ross: | There's a choice we're making |
| We're saving our own lives | |
| Michael Jackson and Diana Ross: | It's true we'll make a better day |
| Just you and me | |
| Dionne Warwick: | Well, send them your heart |
| So they'll know that someone cares | |
| Dionne Warwick and Willie Nelson: | And their lives will be stronger and free |
| Willie Nelson: | As God has shown us by turning stone to bread |
| Al Jarreau: | And so we all must lend a helping hand |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We are the world, we are the children |
| Kenny Loggins: | We are the ones who make a brighter day |
| So let's start giving | |
| Steve Perry: | Oh, there's a choice we're making |
| We're saving our own lives | |
| Daryl Hall: | It's true we'll make a better day |
| Just you and me | |
| Michael Jackson: | When you're down and out |
| And there seems no hope at all | |
| Huey Lewis: | But if you just believe |
| There's no way we can fall | |
| Cindi Lauper: | Well, well, well, well let's realize |
| Oh, that a change can only come | |
| Kim Carnes: | When we |
| Huey Lewis and Kim Carnes: | Stand together as one |
| Cyndi Lauper: | Yeah yeah yeah yeah! |
| All: | We are the world, we are the children |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving | |
| All: | 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 | |
| All: | We are the world, we are the children |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving | |
| Bob Dylan: | 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 | |
| All: | We are the world (we are the world) |
| We are the children (we are the children) | |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving (so let's start giving) | |
| All: | There's a choice we're making |
| We're saving our own lives | |
| Bob Dylan and all: | It's true we'll make a better day |
| Just you and me | |
| Ray Charles: | Alright, let me hear you! |
| All: | We are the world |
| Ray Charles: | We are the world |
| All: | We are the children |
| Ray Charles: | Yeah, we are the children |
| All: | We are the ones who make a brighter day |
| So let's start giving | |
| Ray Charles: | Let's start giving |
| Ray Charles: | There's a choice we're making |
| We're saving our own lives | |
| It's true we'll make a finer day | |
| Just you and me | |
| Come on now, let me hear you! | |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the world |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We are the world |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the children |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We are the children |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the ones who make a brighter day |
| So let's start giving | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | So let's start giving |
| Stevie Wonder: | 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, yeah, yeah | |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the world |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We are the world |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the children |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We are the children |
| Stevie Wonder: | We are the ones who make a brighter day |
| So let's start giving | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | So let's start giving |
| Bruce Springsteen: | There's a choice we're making |
| Yeah, we're saving our own lives | |
| It's true we'll make a better day | |
| Just you and me | |
| Stevie Wonder: | It's true, woah woah woah woah |
| All: | We are the world (woah woah woah) |
| We are the children (we are the children) | |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving (so let's start giving) | |
| All: | 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 | |
| James Ingram: | We are the world |
| Ray Charles and all: | (We are the world) |
| James Ingram: | We are the children |
| All: | (We are the children) |
| Ray Charles: | Yes, so! |
| James Ingram: | We are the ones that make a brighter day |
| So let's start giving | |
| All: | So let's start giving |
| Ray Charles: | 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, hooo hoo | |
| All: | We are the world |
| Ray Charles: | Get down! |
| All: | (We are the world) |
| All: | We are the children |
| Ray Charles: | Yeah! |
| All: | (We are the children) |
| We are the ones who make a brighter day | |
| So let's start giving | |
| Ray Charles: | Alright, need to hear what I'm sayin'! |
| Ray Charles and all: | 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 | |
| Ray Charles: | Alright, I will say it again! |
| Ray Charles and all: | We are the world |
| All: | (We are the world) |
| Ray Charles and all: | We are the children |
| All: | (We are the children) |
| [fades out] |
WE ARE THE WORLD is a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and released by USA For Africa in 1985 as a single and on their album We Are The World. USA For Africa was a cast of 45 U.S. superstar singers (including Bruce Springsteen) led by Harry Belafonte, Kenny Rogers, Michael Jackson, and Lionel Richie. This pioneering all-star charity anthem was recorded to raise money for hunger and disease relief in Africa. The above lyrics are for USA For Africa's version of WE ARE THE WORLD as released in 1985.
WE ARE THE WORLD came as a response to DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?, the 1984 single recorded by Band Aid, a British group organized by the Boomtown Rats' Bob Geldof. Members of the group included included Bono, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and Sting. The single, written by Midge Ure and Bob Geldof, raised more than $20 million for famine relief in Africa and became the top-selling single in British history.
WE ARE THE WORLD was the brainchild of calypso singer and activist Harry Belafonte who was impressed and embarrassed at the same time that a group of mostly white British performers had served an issue he felt the African-American community should have led the world in addressing. Belafonte originally wanted to put together a benefit concert featuring black musicians to raise money for Africa. He contacted leading entertainment manager Ken Kragen, an owner of a personal management and television production company, and who became president of the organization USA For Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa). Kragen thought an American version of Band Aid would be a better idea. He was Lionel Ritchie's manager, so he called him with the idea. Ritchie's wife talked to Steve Wonder's wife and arranged to line him up for the song. Wonder was the first star to agree to the project. From there, word got out and many members of the music industry signed on to help. When producer Quincy Jones asked Springsteen to join the effort, however, his response was, "You sure you want me to do this?" Securing Springsteen's involvement was the key turning point in efforts to recruit other big names to the project; Kragen told Rolling Stone, "The turning point was Bruce Springsteen's commitment. That legitimized the project in the eyes of the rock community." Lionel Richie told Playboy: "I dug [Springsteen] the most. That's because he's business. I didn't have to worry about making him the prima donna. He came in the door and said, 'I came here to do this. Just tell me where to go and I've got it, buddy'."
Quicy Jones was lined up as the producer, and Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie were the song writers. It is said that Richie came up with "We are the world, we are the children..." but the rest of the song was largely Jackson's doing. The line "There's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives," was originally "It's a chance we're taking, we're taking our own lives." Quincy felt it sounded too much like suicide so it was changed. One can actually hear Michael Jackson singing that alternative line on a special hosted by Jane Fonda about the USA For Africa event.
The melody is so simple but beautifully arranged and produced by Daddy Q. Okay. However, Billy Joel told Rolling Stone in 2005, "Most of us who were there didn't like the song, but nobody would say so. I think Cyndi Lauper leaned over to me and said, 'It sounds like a Pepsi commercial.' And I didn't disagree."
The recording was held at A&M Studios on the old Charlie Chaplin sound stage on Sunset Strip in Hollywood, CA, on 28 Jan 1985, the night of the American Music Awards. This was, as Kragen and Jones figured, the perfect date to assure that most of the artists would all be free to participate on a single date since they would all be in town for the event. Note that Springsteen's DANCING IN THE DARK won the Best Pop/Rock Single award, but he didn't attend the ceremony. The recording session didn't start until very late on 28 Jan 1985, so, technically speaking, most of the event took place in the early hours of 29 Jan 1985.
The instrumental tracks were recorded ahead of time and sent out to the interested musicians. With each tape, producer Quicy Jones sent a letter stating that they should "check their ego at the door." It went very smoothly considering some very famous stars did not get to sing a line, but most of them knew Jones personally and respected his wish. When they arrived in the studio, Jones had arranged where everyone would stand, putting a tape on the floor with each singer's name on it, arranged around six microphones in a semi-circle.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street band concluded their first North American leg of the Born In The U.S.A. Tour on 27 Jan 1985 in Syracuse, NY, and took about two months off before the tour resumed in Australia. Springsteen flew to Los Angeles immediately after his Syracuse shows to participate in the recording of WE ARE THE WORLD. Arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport, he rented a Corvette and drove to the studio, parking in a lot across the street. In a humorous anecdote from his autobiography, Is That It?, Geldof recalled that Kragen at one point walked in and said, "'Bruce Springsteen has just parked his car on the other side of the road and walked across — by himself — to the studio. Can you believe it?' I could believe it. 'No, I mean he drove himself, no chauffeur, no limo. Then The Boss walked across himself, no bodyguards, no security.'"
The recording session featured 45 of the biggest names in American popular music in the eighties:
Dan Aykroyd was in the chorus. He was a singer in the fictional band The Blues Brothers before it became a SNL sketch (and then a movie), hence he was a musician. VH-1's Pop-Up Video stated that he was invited to represent the American movie industry. Taping was stopped when musicians complained about Cyndi Lauper making an "annoying noise" — her bracelets were rattling next to the microphone as she was singing. Pop-Up Video stated that Waylon Jennings left the recording session due to a dispute over the lyrics. Many of the artists exchanged autographs. Springsteen chatted with friends such as Dylan, Simon, and Joel; the Pointer Sisters, who had a hit with FIRE, sat on his lap at one point.
While participants were all admonished to "check their egos at the door," the recording session was not without its tensions. A manager for one of the artists complained that "the rockers don't care for the song that much and they don't want to stand next to the non-rockers," Kragen recounted. "They felt it was going to hurt their credibility." But when Springsteen refused to join the dissidents' revolt, "the whole mutiny fell apart," Kragen said, recalling that the response of the Boss was: "I'm here to save lives and feed people, and I'm staying."
Springsteen was part of the song's soaring chorus and was also tapped to be one of the soloists, reentering the studio just after 6 a.m. to sing the line "We are the world, we are the children." Asking the producer for some guidance, Jones advised him, "It's like being the cheerleader of the chorus." After the first run-through, Springsteen asked Jones, "Something like that?," to which the producer said "Exactly like that." Springsteen's performance appeared twice in the song, the second time blended with Wonder's. When he finished, Richie declared that Springsteen "is now officially on vacation." Springsteen replied, "That sounds goooooood. I want to get a soda." He then left the studio and turned down an A&M security guard's offer of escort him to the parking lot across the street.
Speaking of the event and of the issue, Springsteen said, "Anytime somebody asks you to take one night of your time to help people who are starving to death, it's pretty hard to say no... There's all this senseless suffering in the world. Either you're tearing something down or building something up. I want to be part of the building process, holding back the flood a little bit."
The single exceeded expectations in terms of sales. 800,000 copies arrived in stores on Tuesday, 07 Mar 1985, and they were sold out by the first weekend. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 23 Mar 1985, at #21, and was #1 in three weeks. It sold more than five million copies. At the time, this was the highest debuting single since John Lennon's IMAGINE, and the fastest rising chart-topper since Elton John's ISLAND GIRL in 1975. It was the 8th consecutive year that Lionel Ritchie had written a number one song. The song won Grammy Awards for Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year, and was also a #1 single in the UK charts.
The USA For Africa effort raised an estimated $200 million for famine relief, which was distributed to Ethiopia, Sudan, and other impoverished countries. Critics, however, claim that this money went directly to the (often military) governments of the affected countries rather than the people.
The combined success of both DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? and WE ARE THE WORLD was so impressive that Bob Geldof organized the Live Aid in July 1985, a benefit concert held simultaneously in Philadelphia and London. Surprisingly, Springsteen did not participate in that event. Geldof said that he pursued him aggressively and even changed the date in order to accommodate his schedule, but that didn't convince him. The reason could be that Springsteen was burnout from the lengthy Born In The U.S.A. Tour, and he wanted to spend some time with his then-new wife, Julianne Philips. However, Springsteen and his organization did donate the staging from their recent shows at Wembley Stadium to be used at the London show.
In addition to his participation in the song, Springsteen also donated a live recording of Jimmy Cliff's TRAPPED recorded during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour to the subsequent benefit 1985 album, We Are The World.
WE ARE THE WORLD was the title track of the various artists album We Are The World, released worldwide in 1985. The various artists album is credited to "USA For Africa".
WE ARE THE WORLD was the only track off the charity album that was released as a single. It was issued worldwide on 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl and featured GRACE on the B-side, an instrumental by Quincy Jones who produced the single.
As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed WE ARE THE WORLD live.
Some of the scans and info about the above official releases are taken from the Searching For A Gem website. Thanks Mark Bahlen for the Australian MC single scan.
Please contact me if you have scans for or info about any official release containing WE ARE THE WORLD that's not mentioned on this page. Any additions, comments, or corrections to this page are welcome. You can contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of WE ARE THE WORLD on this website:
WE ARE THE WORLD [USA For Africa's version]
