Songoftheday 2/18/14 - There comes a time when we heed a certain call, when the world must come together as one...

USA For Africa - "We Are The World"
from the album We Are The World (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day was the biggest musical event of 1985, possibly of the recorded music of the decade. After being inspired by the Bob Geldof/Midge Ure British flash-charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which sold millions of records and even made the American top 20, veteran calypso music icon Harry Belafonte and fundraiser Ken Kragan sought to duplicate the success with an American effort, and enlisted no lesser stars than Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to write what would come out as "We Are The World" under the moniker USA For Africa. Quincy Jones took time off his film director duties to produce the track, which was recorded on the night of the American Music Awards, to get as many A-list musicians to the table (so many showed, that some were turned away). With artists as varied as Bob Dylan to Cyndi Lauper to Willie Nelson to Dionne Warwick, twenty one artists sung verses on the record, while a roomful more (including actors Dan Aykroyd and the Pointer Sisters) gathered together for the chorus. When the single and video of the recording session was released in March, it truly was a mind-blowing event for the MTV generation, a mega-super-group if you will of the best of the best...

It took only four weeks for "We Are The World" to reach #1 (and truly if Billboard would've been using actual tracking numbers it would've been faster) and stayed there for a month. It also went to the top of Billboard's R&B and Adult-Contemporary chart, and even crossed over to the country (#76) and rock (#27) formats. Internationally, the single was just as huge, topping the charts in England, Canada, Australia, France, and just about everywhere else (except Germany and Austria, stopping at #2). There was a benefit album released with the song and contributions from artists like Prince and Chicago who couldn't make the WATW recording, as well as a Canadian version called "Tears Are Not Enough" (which at the time I liked even better). The album went to #1 as well, reaping in even more for the famine-relief charity. Besides nabbing four Grammy Awards including Record and Song of the Year as well as best Group Pop Performance, the record and the group's other merchandise and fundraising efforts took in over 50 million dollars by 1986, with the vast majority going to actually aid the people starving in Africa. To this day, it remains the pinnacle of success in philanthropic work in the music business.

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In 2010, after the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, which killed over a quarter-million people and put over a million homeless, Lionel Richie agreed to give his song new life with a new generation of artists to aid in the relief effort there. With Quincy Jones again producing, and a rap interlude added with artists like LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye West taking part, "We Are The World 25 for Haiti", released on the single's anniversary in time for the winter Olympics, was meant to be just as big of a draw, and though it did well, it came in at #2 (behind Ke$ha, of all people). and while the record did well in a few countries, it stalled down at #50 in the UK...

And as an added bonus, here's the Canadian track from the album under the name Northern Lights with "Tears Are Not Enough". Personally I think it's a better song, and just seeing Neil Young in a pissy mood on a charity record video is priceless...

Up tomorrow: A board game takes two Swedes and an Judas to Thailand.