Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by MUS 235 student Elena and features a documentary about the making of the 1985 song “We Are The World.” Thanks, Elena!

“We Are The World”: The Story Behind The Song

Michael Jackson. Lionel Richie. Quincy Jones. The trifecta of musical genius that came together in 1985 to write and produce the song “We Are the World,” a collaboration of Jackson, Richie, and 43 other popular artists at the time. This feat was accomplished within a short period of time, only six days of recording in total, much to the surprise of almost everyone in the music industry. Brought together for the sake of raising awareness to the famine in Africa and support the humanitarian efforts going on to aid those affected by the famine. The musicians brought together to perform this song spanned all different ages, and all different genres of music, ranging from the King of Pop himself, to Cindy Lauper, to Bruce Springsteen. All already with successful careers and star status, and all worked with each other to help create a song that would go on to win four Grammys (1986), two MTV Video Music Awards (1985), one People’s Choice award (1986) and one American Music Award (1986). A song- and music video- of this caliber drew the attention of millions, so it comes as no surprise that there was a behind the scenes DVD documentary showing what went on during the making of the song.

Willie Nelson’s signed sheet music and poster with all of the other artists’ autographs

Directed by Tom Trbovich, with the help of producers Craig B. Golin and Howard G. Malley and distributed by Image Entertainment in Chatsworth, CA, “We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song” is a DVD documentary that shows what happened the night of January 28, 1985 on the last recording session of the song. Tom Trbovich was known at the time for his directing work on “The Bette Midler Show” and “Laverne and Shirley,” but the documentary happens to be his best known work. In a two disk, 54 minute long DVD set, Trbovich set out to help the audience understand the amount of effort and work put into the creation of the now iconic song. Narrated by Jane Fonda, the documentary takes the viewer step by step through the final day of recording, from the group all together recording the chorus, to the solos (i.e. Michael Jackson, Diana Ross), to Stevie Wonder bringing in two Ethiopian women to tell the artists what the song and the fundraising meant to them and for their country. Next, it jumps to a segment focusing on the introduction of Ray Charles (to add some soul to the song) and then to the individual interviews of some artists involved. The documentary ends with a message from Lionel Richie to the viewers, giving them the information on where the funds from the song will go to in terms of helping the humanitarian efforts in Africa, and then cuts to the music video.

Artists(from left to right) Paul Simon, Kim Carnes, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross arm-in-arm

In my music class (Music 235 I Want My MTV with Dr. Love), our final paper for class is to connect two music videos of the past and present and how the interwoven meanings in the two videos transcend the time between them (the political and/or social meaning within both songs and videos). The past video that I chose to use is the music video shown at the end of the documentary, ‘We Are the World’ by USA for Africa. This documentary is one of my main sources, because not only does it give me all the information on the music itself (instrumentals, production) but also explains the meaning behind the song, why it was written and the circumstances under which the song was written and shows all the artists that were a part of the effort to create the song and the purpose of the song.

The biggest portion(s) of the documentary that I am going to focus on is the segment with the two Ethiopian women and the ending segment of Lionel Richie reaching out and talking to the viewers about the need for the support for the humanitarian efforts going on in Africa at the time. The underlying message of the song and the music video that I want to focus on is the way the coming together of so many successful, house-hold names was for the purpose of raising awareness for a cause that was close to the heart of the writers (and performers). These two segments will be the most helpful as they show the impact the two women had on all the people and the gravity of the success behind the song and what the impact of the song could be on the people affected by the famine all over Africa. Lionel Richie’s short segment of the individual interviews is a plea for help, for people to help their fellow people, until their fellow people stop dying of hunger. He closes the documentary before the music video starts with,

“Anything you can do, if you have any feeling in your heart at all about human life and the celebration of life… give of yourselves…give what you can.”

Besides being a source for all things musical (videos included) this can also be helpful for other topics, for example, global consumer culture, as music can connect people from across the globe, and from a statistical and monetary standpoint, the sales coming from the song can show how relevant the song was in different countries all around the world and how people bought the track once it came out, and how those sales can be tracked from when the song was released up until this very day. This might be labeled as a music documentary and might be housed in a music library, but the uses of the video spread far out from just the topics of music.

“We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song” is a music documentary. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a behind the scenes look at what happens when people come together to try to make a difference in the world. And no, this is not a pitiful attempt to get people to feel bad about what they may be doing to make a difference. This is showing people the proof of what happens when people of all different backgrounds, with talents of all kinds come together and create something they can only hope can make a difference to the people who need it.

Find the music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI