Available to View on Netflix
The story of how the song “We Are The World” was made is sweetly told in the documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop. With this retrospective, viewers can finally learn about the challenges in getting the huge, diverse crew of talents together. When it all started with the song released in the UK, “Do They Know It’s Christmas” we mustn’t forget about the follow up acts like Live-Aid and the impact that had for famine relief too. As for why it all happened mid 80s, that’s up to musical historians and socioligists to debate.
And as for how the producers came up with the America side song, apparently it boils down to finding a hook/chorus that everyone can understand. As for why Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were the ones to write the lyrics, it’s partially because they asked or were assigned the task by showrunner Harry Belafonte. Whether the reasons were personal or not, this part of the documentary didn’t get too deep. And the subplot concerning inviting Sheila E in hopes Prince would appear during recording felt lost in the shuffle.
As for what Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper have to add (amongst others), their stories are more revealing. And for my favourite singer back then, Lewis said he was unprepared. He was probably geeking out more at the gathering of great singers than figuring out how to sing his lines, since he wasn’t feeling well.
All The Greatest Night in Pop is concerned about are the difficulties in getting everyone together. It shows everyone rehearsing and, unexpectedly, even about them gathering autographs from others whom these musicians don’t often get the opportunity to interact with! The various quartets and juxtapositions with tonal ranges from the aforementioned talents (along with many others) make for a fascinating look at how the song would get assembled, and it only made me appreciate the song a bit more than criticise it for its simplicity of using the refrain, “We Are The World” far too many times.
Although I do not think this tune stands the test of time that well, it had its place in musical history. Ever since then, I don’t think there’s been another ensemble act to address another global issue such as famine. As this work is released a year before its 40th anniversary, perhaps there’ll be a new remix or some other movement to show that the musicians of today cares about some current issue going on around the world. After all, isn’t that what this song is truly about?
3½ Stars out of 5
The Greatest Night in Pop Trailer
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