Earlier this year, I had promised a huge post that I wound up not finishing. At the time, there was a fair amount of hubbub about the 25th anniversary of "We Are the World." One of my daughters had been learning all about "We Are the World" in her Kindergarten class. She became totally obsessed with it. Normally she is pretty shy about singing... but she was unabashedly singing the song full-throatedly at every opportunity. So I decided it was time for a sober and serious consideration of this classic moment in 80's pop/music culture... and then ran out of steam. Midaso's comment in another thread recharged me and I pounded out the rest when I should have been working.

No offense to Bob Geldof and the "Do They Know It's Christmas?" crew (which is, after all, the superior song and recording), but "We Are the World" is the apogee of multi-artist charity recordings, approached only by the sterling collection of artists who contributed to "Bad Cover Version."

They raised so much money for a worthy cause. They spread so much good feeling and compassion. In that spirit, it is only right that we consider this truly monumental recording as they would want to be remembered... by pitting each of the soloists head-to-head, mano y mano in a no-holds-barred smackdown. It's time to rate and rank the individual solos.

That's right: Who brought their A-game? Who phoned it in? And who must have traded sexual favors with Quincy Jones just to be allowed into the studio?

Before we consider the soloists, let's take a moment to appreciate some of the choir members.

Bette Midler: In Schwah's pantheon of horrendous artists, three stand at the top -- Jimmy Buffett, Kiss, and the "Divine Miss M." This is a little known fact, but Midler is so awful, her performance on Johnny Carson's last night ruined not just his final Tonight Show, but his entire thirty year run as host. Somehow this woman bullied her way into the studio. But we can be thankful about one thing... if the song had been recorded a few years later, after "Wind Beneath My Wings," she would have been given a solo and the whole recording would have, ipso facto, sucked. Let's just pretend she wasn't there at all, shall we?

The Pointer Sisters: Just coming off an enormous year (4 top-10 hits in 1984 with Automatic, Jump, I'm So Excited, and Neutron Dance). I would have given them a combo-solo.

Waylon Jennings: Allegedly walked out when Wonder tried to get the chorus to sing in Swahili. A bold move by the outlaw country singer... dickish, but bold.

John Oates: Not just a chorus member, but he also added background mustache to the recording. Quincy Jones was no fool. He knew that the enormous success of Hall & Oates in the early and mid 80's was no accident, and that a little of the magic of Oates' mustache was needed to make "We Are the World" a big hit. (Yeah, I went for the easy mustache joke. All joking aside, I dig Hall & Oates and do not agree with those who lump Oates in with Andrew Ridgley as an inessential participant in Hall's successes.)

The News: It was kinda nice of Huey to bring them along.

Jackie, Marlon, Tito, LaToya, and Randy Jackson: It was kinda nice of Michael to bring them along. (Just kidding... few on these boards have been a bigger proponent of the Jackson 5 than me.)

Sheila E: Her presence only highlights the biggest missing musician. A shame that Prince was not there, for whatever reason. (Both Prince and Madonna were both in L.A. at the AMA awards that preceded the recording session.)

Dan Aykroyd: Famously, the biggest head-scratching inclusion. Why the hell was he there? Was it because of his Blues Brothers work that he was brought in? Because a year after Ghostbusters any person affiliated with that movie was allowed to do whatever they wanted? (Except for Ray Parker, Jr... you think he wouldn't have been there had he been invited?) I like to think it was because of his invention of the Super Bass-O-Matic '76.

Harry Belafonte: Following the example of Bob Geldof, Belafonte was the man who got the whole project started. I don't know if vocally he deserved a solo, but as a matter of decency they probably should have given him one.

Lindsey Buckingham: A very solid chorus member. They probably would have given his ex- a solo, though. I can think of a few soloists who I would have swapped Buckingham in for.

Smokey Robinson: Some might argue he is the greatest singer involved in the project. (I wouldn't, but he's up there.) That begs the question... why didn't he get a solo? Anyone know what the state of his voice was in 1985?

Okay... time to consider the soloists. I'll take them in chronological order. Criteria may include: (i) how well did they actually sing; (ii) how worthy, at that point in their careers, were they of being given a solo; (iii) what was 11-year-old Schwah's response to the soloists at the time (and in particular, how much fun was it for 11-year old Schwah to try and do an impression of the singer); and (iv) it's the video era, so performance on the video will be considered. There is no curve, and there is no grade inflation. A's are reserved for truly outstanding efforts.

Lionel Richie: I like Lionel Richie. Not like the Iraqis love Lionel Richie. But I have an above average appreciation for the smooth vocal and hit-making talents of the ex-Commodores singer. And as co-writer of the song, Richie wrote a melody that is right in his wheel-house. When he starts it off, you could imagine him delivering the whole song and releasing it as the sixth monster single off of Can't Slow Down. But he sings it almost too straight. I prefer that he did that than tried to oversing it. He starts the song at the right tone. It's the beginning and he is not a vocal pyrotechnics kind of singer. Also, nice soft blend with Wonder on "world must come together as one." So Richie sacrifices memorability for the greater good of the song. Sacrifice bunt for Mr. Richie. Grade: B-.

Stevie Wonder: Appropriately, Wonder is featured as a soloist throughout the song He can get away with a throw away "there are people dying," because his moment to shine will come later. And that's when he starts trading twos on the chorus with the Boss in the heavyweight battle at the top of the card. More on my impression of that later, but Wonder's work soloing the second half of the chorus is incredible. There are two soloists who deliver the highest delights in this song. One of those I will discuss later... the other is Wonder's vocal line on "we're saving our own lives/it's true we make a better day just you and me." He just murders it. The continuation of the trading twos with Bruce becomes anticlimactic after that line. They should have switched and had the Boss go first on soloing the second half of the chorus. Because no one can match Wonder when he is singing like that. He caps off his soloing by practically commanding us, "So let's start giving!" Of course, we all had been doing our Stevie Wonder impressions for years (or more exactly, our impressions of Eddie Murphy doing his Wonder impression), but Wonder gave us lots of mimicry fodder here. Grade: A

Paul Simon: Too staid from one of my favorites. Of course he deserves a solo, but his delivery is flat. Redeemed slightly when Kenny Rogers comes in on the high part to duet. Garfunkel must have been livid when this came out: "Why wasn't I brought in to harmonize with Paul?" Grade: C-

Kenny Rogers: Lionel Richie's BFF is one of two country soloists. I think he nailed it. Sweet harmony with Simon. Great baritone delivery on "pretending day by day." Lifts the intensity a little higher. Nice surprise from the Gambler. Grade: B+

James Ingram: Okay. That's fine. Nice enough job with the deep resonance. Unexceptional, but solid, James. Now that you have delivered your early solo, you surely won't mind if I forget that you were there for the rest of the song, right? Wait... WTF? A post-chorus solo for Ingram? TWO SOLOS FOR JAMES FREAKING INGRAM!!!!!??? And he's placed way at the end, when we have heard the chorus repeated approximately 86 times straight. We need a true bolt of energy, something that can bridge the prior Springsteen/Wonder side-by-side solos and Ray Charles' second go around and match their intensity. Well, Ingram, while a fine singer, is overmatched. He resorts to shouting. Quincy had been pimping Ingram for years at this point, with just a single top-10 single to show for it (a duet with Patti Austin). He did Ingram no favors by giving him another solo. Grade: C-

Tina Turner: Mixed bag from Tina. Loved the slight hesitation before beginning her solo. Turner has a big range, and she sings those low parts well enough. But she's not well served by never getting to do what she does best: wail. And, unfortunately, she doesn't blend well with Joel on "You know love is all we need." Grade: C

Billy Joel: Does that Billy Joel vocal thing to perfection on "And the truth, you know..." Really made the five words his own. But as noted above, does not blend well with Tina on the rest of the line. Grade: C+

Michael Jackson: A tale of two solos. First comes his introduction of the chorus. Up until then, we had heard fairly raw, unprocessed vocals. So it's jarring to hear him come in with the reverb turned way up. The delivery is way too light and ethereal. Plus, it's kinda distracting in the video that they break from the solo line-up to jump to him singing alone. Combine that with his dress, and the visuals give off a heavy vibe of "I'm first among equals." (Everyone came more or less dressed down... and while I realize that silver, sequined socks and a gold embroidered jacket IS business casual for the King of Pop, even Diva Diana wore the bulky USA for Africa sweatshirt at least part of the time.) The trick is to let your vocals make you stand out, MJ, while still giving off a "check your ego at the door" appearance. When he comes back in to duet with Ms. Ross, it sounds like the same voice multi-tracked. But just when I think Jackson has entirely disappointed, he come back with a true blast that reminds us of how potent his voice can be. His delivery on "When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all" is great. Following the monster voices of Perry and Hall, Jackson keeps up the intensity and kick starts the home stretch bridge into the choir. But he let us down too much early on to be entirely redeemed. Grade: C-

Diana Ross: I never expect much from Ross. But at least I'd like some of her patented mix of 75% sweet and 25 % sass. This was all sweet, no sass. Grade: C-

Dionne Warwick: Now we're talking. Soaring delivery on "Weeeeeell..." leads into a really nice solo by our psychic friend. And then comes my favorite odd couple pairing of the evening: Warwick and Willie Nelson. The blend is not perfect, and Nelson is a bit tentative, but there is a rough beauty in the brief duet that I enjoy. (By the way, Warwick's niece's breakthrough was a year too late to earn an invite. But Whitney Houston would have delivered a fine solo.) Grade: B+

Willie Nelson: Small deduction for the tentative but typically beautiful vocal on the duet with Warwick. Nelson does a great job of distilling his essential Willieness into his short solo, particularly on the word "by." This is one of the voices that 11-year-old Schwah enjoyed mimicking, and his delivery on "by" was the key. Grade: B

Al Jarreau: Ooof. Al... not so good. Too precise and square in his delivery. Not a total embarrassment, but a waste of a coveted solo spot. Grade: D-

Bruce Springsteen - Now we come to the big-voiced white guy portion of the program. And a nice start from the Boss, who shows Al Jarreau how to inject passion into a solo. But this is just the beginning for Springsteen, who is given the most unenviable task of the evening: facing off with Stevie Wonder. Bruce starts out standing toe to toe, giving his trademark passionate rasp as good as he takes Wonder's soulful lines. But it turns out, as described above, Wonder was actually pulling his punches, and releases that devastating flurry in the second half of Round 1. By Round 2, Bruce is coming up with nothing new. His lines gradually lose their power. As Wonder bides his time, Bruce tries to throw some ineffectual jabs, but his energy is sapping. And at the end of the round, Wonder just takes over during the end of Bruce's solo, delivering a final knockout blow of a vocal trill. Bruce also loses points for a shot in the video where he is not singing along with the whole choir. Lord knows they needed Bruce's energy given the number of times they had to sing the chorus, so there is no excuse for sitting it out. However, Bruce gains half a point for his constipated expression, which was great fun to mimic. Grade: B-

Kenny Loggins - The 80's soundtrack king gives a typically soulless performance. I'm willing to hear defenses of Loggins' work, but this short line will not be an exhibit in the defense's case. And his beard still sucks. Grade: F

Steve Perry - The biggest voice of them all delivers to a point. Nice slight variation on the basic melody, and injects some of that Perry passion into the line. But I can't help being a little disappointed that he didn't do something more with that monster instrument of his. Grade: B-

Daryl Hall - Given the difficult task of following Perry, Hall does an admirable job. The solo starts with Hall's blue eyed soul power on high. But his voice flags for some reason at the end. Grade: C+

Huey Lewis, Kim Carnes, and Cyndi Lauper - Now we reach the critical pre-choir bridge. These eight bars need to drive the listener into the chorus at full speed. I already stated that MJ opens proceedings up with a bang. But strangely, bafflingly, the remainder of the critical bridge falls to three relative lightweights. Lewis and Lauper were certainly churning out hits at this point, but as newcomers, they wouldn't seem to stack up with most of the other soloists. As for Kim Carnes, sorry Stephan and Midaso, but I do not get her. To my ears, she brings one thing to the table... rasp. The rasp is fine, as far as it goes. But she also does some swoopy thing with her vocals that annoys me to no end. Are you telling me they couldn't have gotten Ann Wilson or Pat Benatar or Chrissie Hynde instead? So here's where I throw out my trading sexual favors with Quincy Jones theory. "Sure, Kim, but I can only give you two words on your own."

But how about their performance? Well the square Lewis lays down his line very nicely, delivering some surprising power with his blue eyed soul. Kim Carnes still does not belong here, but blends together nicely with Lewis on "stand together as one." But the moment, and quite possibly the whole song, belongs to the little dynamo that could, Cyndi Lauper. Hers is the other highlight. I have heard objections that she is too over the top. That's totally off base. This is the moment in the song where the soloists energy has to be the highest, sending us right into that choir. And, good god, does Lauper deliver and then some. The major chord arpeggio "well, well, well, well" is genius. The delivery on "oh, that a change can only come" rocks. (And the little bounce she does while singing it is adorable.) And her yeahs just before the chorus somehow lift the proceedings even higher. Grades: Lewis: B+; Carnes: C-; Lauper: A+

Bob Dylan - I enjoy his work here. It's almost laughable to have him in as a soloist, and yet perfect somehow. His peculiar vocal talents were not made for this setting, but he delivered an eminently imitable vocal line for 11-year-old Schwah. Dylan: B

Ray Charles - Finally, the living legend seat gets filled by the best possible candidate. (Imagine if they had put Sinatra in there? yikes. The only other American legend I truly missed here was James Brown). Starting with the exhortatory "All right, let me hear you," Charles does what he does best in his 2 solos -- gives us the soul. He also saves us from Ingram's unfortunate 2d solo by keeping up the energy as the chorus continues on. Unfortunately, his "whooo" at the end of his final solo is uncharacteristically grating. But I forgive him. Grade: A-

So, to recap. The big winners: Lauper, Wonder, and Charles. The big losers: Jarreau and Loggins. Most fun to imitate: Dylan, Nelson, and Springsteen. Better be happy to have been there: Carnes and Midler.

Great post! I'm going to give it a spin now, but I can tell you about Prince's absence from the project.

Basically, he didn't want to participate in it, for whatever reason (it being cheesy, having been launched by rival MJ or whatever), but he contributed a great song to the soundtrack ("4 the Tears in Ur Eyes") and touched on the issue in the funktastic Around the World in a Day B-side "Hello".

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE did a sketch at the time in which Prince (played, if memory serves, by the aggressively mediocre Gary Kroeger) sang a song titled "I Am the World." Cast members playing some of the real "We Are the World" singers (Bruce, Willie) attempted to join in but were summarily beaten up by Prince's bodyguards (including "Wendy and Lisa," who took out "Cyndi Lauper").

Awesome!

It may be dickish, but I find it kind of amusing. Waylon probably found the whole thing to be a bit ludicrous.

John Lennon reported a story about how Waylon Jennings once brought a pistol to a recording session and threatened to put a hole in any session musician who played a pick up note.

The man had standards.

Love this, Schwah. Genius.

I was 12 when this came out, so it also made quite an impact on me. I have 45s of both "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are the World" tucked away somewhere.

Hard to top your brutally thorough analysis, but I'll give my 2 bits:

Lionel Richie: I thought Lionel's gentle intro was perfect, actually, and hey, someone has to go first and it would seem out of place to have all the bombast come out from the beginning. Grade: A

Stevie Wonder: Not much I can add. Grade: A

Paul Simon: agree...Simon's a bit weak here, though I have to say, in reviewing the lyrics he's a bit stuck. You want to start ramping this thing up as you build toward "The greatest gift of all", which seems like it ought to be following by a chorus, but it's not. So what do you do? Well, he seems to choose not to build up any tension because they've got too far to go before the first chorus, and really, "it's time to lend a hand" just isn't going to be a power line anyway. So I'll give him a break because he's a bit handicapped in this position. Grade: C+

Kenny Rogers: A bit of a rough start to the second stanza on "We can't go on", but totally redeems himself by punctuating the "by". Grade: B

James Ingram: So I just noticed that both the country soloists hand off to R&B crooners. And this worked for me. I liked the little bit of desperation in Ingram's voice. Grade: B+

Tina Turner: Didn't like Turner's contribution, though admittedly I was not a fan then or now. She also seems to be running to get away from the mike before she even finishes. Grade: D

Billy Joel: And the complete opposite of Tina Turner, I love Billy Joel. I've always thought he had a very honest quality to his vocals, so it seems appropriate to me that he gets to sing "And the truth". I liked it, though I'm biased. Grade: B+

Michael Jackson: I completely agree with what you said...Jackson's voice is like a little happy feather floating around above the serious, yet optimistic heavy weights in the room. But, he did co-write the song, so I have to give him some points there. Grade: B-

Diana Ross: She's just kind of phoning it in. No room for that, we're saving lives here people! Grade: D-

Dionne Warwick: Something seems out of place here, but I can't put my finger on it. Still, she's clearly passionate about what she's singing, so I can't ding her too badly. Grade: C+

Willie Nelson: With probably the least straightforward delivery of any soloist (in a good way), Nelson does a bang-up job, and handing the Bible reference to the country legend seems like a genius move. Grade: A-

Al Jarreau: Country-to-R&B baton pass number 2, check. I kind of think of the last lines before the chorus as the anchor legs of a relay, and you want a strong guy in that slot. Jarreau is out of place (I assume not his fault), both by resume (this was well before the Moonlighting Theme made him a household name) and by strength of voice. If we keep him in the lineup, perhaps he's better off swapping with Kenny Rogers. Paul Simon: "Nice to meet you Mr. Jarreau". Al Jarreau: "Thanks, you can call me Al." FTW!! Grade: D

Da Boss: Springsteen owns this. He's clearly in another league in terms of inspiring imitations, both vocally and facially. I'm not going to downgrade him because the song drags out just a little too long. Grade: A+

Kenny Loggins: I didn't think this was terrible, and he put more emotion in than Simon or Ross. He's outclassed vocally coming and going, and so probably has the hardest slot in terms of being sandwiched between a legend and, if not a legend, at least a legendary voice (Perry). Grade: C

Steve Perry: Perry enlivens the second chorus, and makes up for a bit of a weak spot, what with Loggins following Springsteen. I liked trying to do the Perry voice as well. Oh Perry. Grade: A-

Daryl Hall: I liked what Hall did here...he couldn't really take it up a notch from Perry, and the line doesn't warrant that anyway, so I though the way he trailed off on "just you and me" worked just fine. He also brings down the tension just a bit, so MJ doesn't have to start at quite so high a point as he starts building the bridge. Grade: B+

Huey Lewis: Lewis wasn't that much of a newcomer...he'd already scored 8 hit singles, including 5 top 10s, like "Do You Believe in Love" and "The Heart of Rock and Roll". Lewis was the perfect choice for another of the song's statements of optimism. This blends perfectly with his bubbly pop image, and remember, HL and the News went on to own the summer of 85 with "The Power of Love" from "Back to the Future". Prince, MJ and Madonna were definitely THE pop royalty in 1985, but Huey Lewis was at the top of his game, and right at the top of that next tier of artists. Anyway, back to the song...good emotion and blends nicely into Lauper. Grade: B+

Cyndi Lauper: Lauper was coming off a phenomenal breakout year, and she put to shame most of her far-more experienced colleagues. Lauper was certainly well-known worldwide at this point, but still had just one album to her credit. She blows the lid off, both vocally and with the spirited visual of her jumping up and down just to give the notes that last little bit of pep they need. Grade: A+

Kim Carnes: I'm pretty sure I know why she was here. In 1984, Kim Carnes, Kenny Rogers, and James Ingram (yes, you read those names correctly) scored a modest Top 20 hit with the song "What About Me", and somehow she managed an invite based on those friendships. This is speculation, but makes sense because James Ingram doesn't really belong in this group either. Side note: originally the three singers were going to be Rogers, Richie, and Barbara Streisand!! Can you imagine Babs with a line in this song??? I actually like Kim "Crazy in the Night" Carnes, but with only two words, I feel like I can't even give her a grade. Grade: Incomplete

Dylan and Charles were good additions that kept the end of the song from being quite so laborious. Still, seems a bit disrespectful to tack them on in the end, almost as an afterthought. Dylan: B- Charles: A

Favorites: Lewis, Lauper, Perry, Springsteen
Throwaways: Carnes, Ross, Turner, Jarreau

Bette Midler: In Schwah's pantheon of horrendous artists, three stand at the top -- Jimmy Buffett, Kiss, and the "Divine Miss M." This is a little known fact, but Midler is so awful, her performance on Johnny Carson's last night ruined not just his final Tonight Show, but his entire thirty year run as host. Somehow this woman bullied her way into the studio. But we can be thankful about one thing... if the song had been recorded a few years later, after "Wind Beneath My Wings," she would have been given a solo and the whole recording would have, ipso facto, sucked. Let's just pretend she wasn't there at all, shall we?

I love "the Rose." That was an incredibly well written song and she sang it really passionately. I'll always appreciate an artist that can actually sing over a songwriter who can't even if he has a massive indie following. If you write a good song you better be able to sing it well especially if it's accoustic or lo-fi.

Schwah: Grade: A+
Excellent, excellent, excellent, Schwah. I love this kind of extensive and detailed analysis. Probably the only thing that lacked was this:



Can I add some comments?: I wasn’t 11 or 12 years old when this song came out, I was 19 years old then and I immediately hated it. I kinda liked the Geldof song that went before and me, full of European arrogance, I despised the American version for being banal, bland, tasteless, kitsch and show-off. Time has tempered my hate (time has tempered so many things) but I still don’t like the silly song-writing and the glossy mid-80s arrangements.
But even then, since that song was ubiquitous and you can’t help listening to it everywhere, I began to extract some (guilty) pleasure from it. In my case the main appeal was the way that every singer transformed a simple melody (in fact the simplest melody ever, C#-B-A-F#) to create his own melody. It was particularly impressive how Stevie Wonder wonderized completely the song (listen at 5:25 how he sang F#-F#-E-D, a much better melody than the original). And how the Boss springsteenized it too (during the duet-duel with Wonder the line “we’re saving our own lives” at 5:36 was pure “The River” ). And Dylan, of course, the line “it’s true to make a better day” at 3:51 came directly from the Highway 61.
And yes, Schwah, I agree with you. Cindy Lauper was the best of them all. That single line (and that yeah yeah yeahs) were the highest point of her career. She nailed it.

Schwah, I can't wait for your comments on We Are the World 25 for Haïti with Justin Bieber, vocoders, a rapped verse and a candidat for Haiti presidency cracking his pants.

Thanks all. I realize my post is more than a little silly and even more than little self-indulgent. Nor do I think that We Are the World is a reording particularly worthy of aesthetic acclaim. I turned to it because of its cultural ubiquity and the unique opportunity to compare and contrast different artists in a specific setting. And because I had fun with the whole thing.

I suppose I should explain that my disdain for Midler is first and foremost about her voice, secondarily about her grating personality. My overriding impression of Midler's singing is that she frequently swings within a song between lazily boring and soullessly annoying. She either is trying to sing pretty and winds up sounding flat (not in her pitch but dynamically) or is trying to inject attitude and winds up sounding embarrasing. But that is totally a subjective opinion, and I'm glad to hear from someone who likes her most famous recording.

I don't have the music analysis knowledge to pick apart each of the melodic variations in the solos. I just know that some I found very pleasing to the ear, and many of those were courtesy of Stevie. So thanks, Honorio, for that prime example, complete with the specific notes.

I'd certainly love to hear if anyone else disagrees with my assessments. Or who wants to exapin why the whole thing is totally unworthy of such detailed analysis.