We Are The World - Recording Sessions

Recording Sessions

The first night of recording, January 22, 1985, had tight security on hand, as Richie, Jackson, Wonder, and Jones started work on "We Are the World" at Kenny Rogers' Lion Share Recording Studio. The studio, on Beverly Boulevard in California, was filled with musicians, technicians, video crews, retinues, assistants, and organizers as the four musicians entered. To begin the night, a "vocal guide" of "We Are the World" was recorded by Richie and Jackson and duplicated on tape for each of the invited performers. The guide was recorded on the sixth take, as Quincy Jones felt that there was too much "thought" in the previous versions.

Following their work on the vocal guide, Jackson and Jones began thinking of alternatives for the line "There's a chance we're taking, we're taking our own lives": the pair was concerned that the latter part of the line would be considered a reference to suicide. As the group listened to a playback of the chorus, Richie declared that the last part of the line should be changed to "We're 'saving' our own lives", which his fellow musicians agreed with. Producer Jones also suggested altering the former part of the line. "One thing we don't want to do, especially with this group, is look like we're patting ourselves on the back. So it's really, 'There's a choice we're making.'" Around 1:30 am, the four musicians ended the night by finishing a chorus of melodic vocalizations, including the sound "sha-lum sha-lin-gay". Jones told the group that they were not to add anything else to the tape. "If we get too good, someone's gonna start playing it on the radio," he announced.

On January 24, 1985, after a day of rest, Jones shipped Richie and Jackson's vocal guide to all of the artists who would be involved in "We Are the World"'s recording. Enclosed in the package was a letter from Jones, addressed to "My Fellow Artists":

The cassettes are numbered, and I can't express how important it is not to let this material out of your hands. Please do not make copies, and return this cassette the night of the 28th. In the years to come, when your children ask, 'What did mommy and daddy do for the war against world famine?', you can say proudly, this was your contribution.

Ken Kragen chaired a production meeting at a bungalow off Sunset Boulevard on January 25, 1985. There, Kragen and his team addressed where the song would be completed by the supergroup of musicians. He stated, "The single most damaging piece of information is where we're doing this. If that shows up anywhere, we've got a chaotic situation that could totally destroy the project. The moment a Prince, a Michael Jackson, a Bob Dylan—I guarantee you!—drives up and sees a mob around that studio, he will never come in." On the same night, Quincy Jones' associate producer and vocal arranger, Tom Bahler, was given the task of matching each solo line with the right voice. Bahler stated, "It's like vocal arranging in a perfect world." Jones disagreed, stating that the task was like "putting a watermelon in a Coke bottle". The following evening, Lionel Richie held a "choreography" session at his home, where it was decided who would stand where.

The final night of recording was held on January 28, 1985, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood. Michael Jackson arrived at 9 pm, earlier than the other artists, to record his solo section and record a vocal chorus by himself. He was subsequently joined in the recording studio by the remaining USA for Africa artists, which included Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Smokey Robinson. Also in attendance were five of Jackson's siblings: Jackie, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Tito. Many of the participants came straight from an American Music Award ceremony, which had been held that same night. Invited musician Prince, who would have had a part in which he and Michael Jackson sang to each other, did not attend the recording session. The reason given for his absence has varied. One newspaper claimed that the singer did not want to record with other acts. Another report, from the time of "We Are the World"'s recording, suggested that the musician did not want to partake in the session because organizer Bob Geldof called him a "creep". Prince did, however, donate an exclusive track, "4 The Tears In Your Eyes", for the We Are the World album. In all, more than 45 of America's top musicians participated in the recording, and another 50 had to be turned away. Upon entering the recording studio, the musicians were greeted by a sign pinned to the door which read, "Please check your egos at the door." They were also greeted by Stevie Wonder, who proclaimed that if the recording was not completed in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive everybody home.

I think what's happening in Africa is a crime of historic proportions ... You walk into one of the corrugated iron huts and you see meningitis and malaria and typhoid buzzing around the air. And you see dead bodies lying side by side with the live ones. In some of the camps you see 15 bags of flour for 27,000 people. And I assume that's why we're all here tonight.

Bob Geldof, addressing his fellow USA for Africa musicians during one of the recording session of "We Are the World" on January 28, 1985.

Each of the performers took his or her position at around 10:30 pm and began to sing. Several hours passed before Stevie Wonder announced that he would like to substitute the "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" sound for a line in Swahili. At this point, Waylon Jennings left the recording studio and never returned; he allegedly felt that no "good ole boy" ever sang in Swahili. A heated debate ensued, in which several artists rejected the suggestion. The "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" sound ran into opposition as well and was subsequently removed from the song. The participants eventually decided to sing something meaningful in English. They chose to sing the new line "One world, Our children", which most of the participants enjoyed.

In the early hours of the morning, two Ethiopian women, guests of Stevie Wonder, were brought into the recording studio—it had been decided that a portion of the proceeds raised would be used to bring aid to those affected by the recent famine in Ethiopia. They thanked the singers on behalf of their country, bringing several artists to tears, before being led from the room. Wonder attempted to lighten the mood, by joking that the recording session gave him a chance to "see" fellow blind musician Ray Charles. "We just sort of bumped into each other!" The solo parts of the song were recorded without any problems. The final version of "We Are the World" was completed at 8 am.

In October, 1984, Ken Kragen and his production executive Ken Yates approached Howard G. Malley and Craig B. Golin and asked if they could produce a video for Famine in Africa for $200,000. Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie (both Kragen clients) were going to put up the money for the project. Rogers donated his Lionshare Recording Studios for the pre/post audio recording sessions.

Malley and Golin told Kragen that they would get everything donated; technical and lighting labor; video equipment; lighting equipment; projection screens to put in the Charlie Chaplin Stage at A&M to hold the various entourages and to keep the studio free to make the recording. They asked April Lee Grebb to be the Production Supervisor and she readily agreed. Everything was donated and not one penny was spent on the video. Additionally Kragen asked Malley and Golin to produce a 1 Hour HBO Special and a 30 Minute Home Video. Kragen arranged for Jane Fonda to host the shows. Michael Jackson later recorded a solo version of the song.

This project took four months from start to finish. All of the editing, sound recording, and graphics were supplied at no cost.