Review of the film about the creation of the song “We Are The World”

Shortly after its premiere at Sundance, director Bao Nguyen’s documentary The Biggest Night in Pop, which chronicles the recording of the charity single “We Are the World” in 1985, became available on digital services. The creators of the song had the task of helping the starving people of Ethiopia and Sudan; in the first months, the single earned $54 million. The authors of “We Are The World” Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones managed to turn the entire American show business into one family for one night. Appreciated the greatness of this moment Igor Gavrilov.

The recording of “We Are The World” was not the first action of this kind. Irish musician Bob Geldof, who already had a collective recording of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, gave a motivational speech to the participants of the vocal session on January 28, 1985 in the A&M studio. in favor of the starving people of Ethiopia (then he gathered George Michael, Phil Collins, Sting, Bono and other island superstars in the studio). The American singers arrived to record at the A&M studio after the American Music Awards ceremony, that is, everyone was in the mood for something like an after-party. However, the initiator of the recording of “We Are The World,” Harry Belafonte, conceived it precisely as an analogue of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, and Geldof had to mention in his speech people whose lives are worth less than one record released by any of the musicians. Serious business was brewing.

The song “We Are The World” was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, but only Quincy Jones, a man with impeccable authority in the industry, could organize the collaboration of the top figures of the American scene. Only he could imagine how to record separately low and high voices, whether vocalists should sing in a third or an octave, how to set up microphones, and so on.

Just imagine. In one hot studio – Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Al Jarreau and 40 other musicians. Managers and assistants are shown the door. There were singers and videographers in the studio; a video was being filmed, so the musicians could not record separately. Everything had to be done in one night.

Someone has had too much to drink and is screwing up (that’s Al Jarreau). Someone whines and leaves the set (it’s Waylon Jennings). Millionaire singers demand chicken from their favorite restaurant. Stevie Wonder suddenly suggests inserting a couple of lines in Swahili into an already invented song (of course, everyone only dreams of this). But he, the great Stevie Wonder, finds a solution for the great bard Bob Dylan, who agreed to participate, but feels like a stranger here. Stevie Wonder sits down at the piano and sings Dylan’s lines in his, Dylan’s, manner. Stevie Wonder shows Bob Dylan how to remain Bob Dylan surrounded by black soul singers. “And these white people did a good job,” something like this is constantly heard between the lines (and in plain text) in the conversations of Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie.

Director Bao Nguyen masterfully built these undercurrents and parallel plots into the film. The English song for Africa was recorded by whites, but here it is blacks, and they are also leading the process. This is important for America in 1985. It’s also important to show what management is in action: how to merge the schedules of 45 superstars and send them notes and cassettes with a song for rehearsals, how to make the American Music Awards host Lionel Richie also record “We Are The World” after the ceremony and remained alive, how to take into account and use all the subtle aspects of communications. Singer Sheila Yi remembers the moment of recording with delight, but sadly admits that she was taken advantage of. She was Prince’s girlfriend at the time, Prince had just won best single by a black artist against Michael Jackson at the American Music Awards, everyone was dreaming that he would come to the recording, and Sheila E was brought into the studio as bait. Prince said he would record a guitar solo in a separate room, and he was sent away. Before the idea of ​​”We Are The World” everyone was equal.

At first glance, Bao Nguyen’s task was not such a difficult one. He had at his disposal many hours of video recordings of the preparatory period and studio sessions. Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper and many other project participants, including technical staff, agreed to share their memories on camera. Despite the fact that much of the chronicle is available on YouTube, Nguyen was able to present in the film several truly great portraits of people who seem to be well known to the viewer. First of all, this is Michael Jackson, about whom a lot of things have been shown in existing documentaries, but rarely with such calm warmth and tribute to his talent. Given the controversial background that exists around his name, this looks like a bold step by the documentarian. Quincy Jones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen are like family to many audiences, but Nguyen brings a fresh perspective, without prejudice and without cliched reverence. Ray Charles asks Stevie Wonder, “Where’s the bathroom?” “Come on, I’ll show you,” says Wonder. This is a conversation between two blind people. It sounds like a joke, but it really happened. Have you ever seen something like this? Bao Nguyen conveyed the atmosphere of that night perfectly, and it’s not for nothing that Diana Ross cries on Quincy Jones’s shoulder at the end of the film: “I don’t want this to end.”