Who Bodied Their Verse On "We Are The World"??

LOL MJ recorded all alone, away from all their GERMS

quick takes:

willie does a pretty good job with his weirdo behind the beat phrasing

brooce is really embarrassing

micheal's chorus is great

gonna be REALLY hard to vote against wwwooahwoooOOOAAHWOOOOOAHHWOOOOOOAAAH OOOH LETS REEEEEUUUUHLLIIIIIIZE THATUH CHEEEE-AAAAAUUUNNGE CAN DO US GOOOOOOD by cyndi though

dylan is awesome cuz he kinda sounds like a standup comedian dude imitating him singing "we are the world"

the hell is Bruce doing. Other than the obvious, that being shitting hard.

I too have to go for Cyndi, although that new way of thinking about Dylan's bit tempted me.

Bob Dylan, really. But excellent performances also from Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper.

Ray Charles was Ray Charles.

Bob, Bruce, Michael, Cyndi (especially) did comedy versions of themselves.

So, Ray! (h'ray)

say what you want about this song but Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder harmonizing is a beautiful thing to hear

voted stevie, but dionne warwick kinda kills it in her little spot. never noticed before.

cyndi!

huey seems to be channeling eddie money

ok I haven't watched that in years and I have a question and require an answer. HOW THE FUCK IS IT THAT KENNY LOGGINS GETS A LINE TO HIMSELF AND SMOKEY FUCKING ROBINSON DOES NOT. fuck that shit imo

xpost w/jordan otm but then again no matter what the poll I would probably vote dionne over anybody including a masked bandit with a gun who told me he'd kill me if I didn't vote for him instead of dionne

HOW THE FUCK IS IT THAT KENNY LOGGINS GETS A LINE TO HIMSELF AND SMOKEY FUCKING ROBINSON DOES NOT.

yeah i thought that too when i went to wiki and got the list of ppl in order....saw smokey down there in the cameos...waylon jennings too :(

It's a little terrifying to me exactly how many of the ppl in this video I recognize on sight (esp James Ingram, lol)

ha, Dan Ackroyd looks confused about why he's even there

Almost voted Cyndi Lauper, but Stevie coming back in the last minute makes the endless choruses tolerable.

Oldie but goodie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87-MUkH3fgU

ftr this video is the main reason why I really really really want to vote Cyndi

Went for cyndi in the end, was between her and springsteen on the insanity scale. I really like willie nelson's almost not there attitude and kenny loggins beard (and the strangely sheepish way he moves back from the mic after his solo - maybe he knows he doesn't belong), but Lauper wins more or less based on the wwwooahwoooOOOAAHWOOOOOAHHWOOOOOOAAAH alone.
I was also wondering about the ones who didn't get a solo compared to those who did (or got more than one), would it have killed them to throw in a Midler/Belafonte duet?
Also, i wonder how close the sound of the group sections is to reality, sounds a bit to smooth for all those different vocal styles.

cyndi tore this one up

It pains me to say it but I've always loved Billy Joel's solo the best, and I sing "and the truth, you know love is all we need" BJ-WATW style ALL the time, so I was compelled to vote for it. After that, probably Lionel b/c it opens this beast and so it's super memorable, and then Bob b/c yeah it sounds like a piss take, and to me like Bob doing a Bob parody (wearing his Bob Dylan mask?).

Lionel is mad dignified on this

I just thought it would fit to post this here :) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsQOU77F7IQ

the thing that's most interesting to me from an aesthetic standpoint is how the veterans really kill it with their professionalism. the really awesome ones in here are from people who've been pretty much living on stages in front of audiences for 20+ years and know the difference between singing in an ensemble & singing duet & having a line where you want to both shine & not look like you're trying to out-do anybody (this is where stevie w. & ray charles really give a master class - they both go WAY up, but they could both have taken it much further if they weren't both dudes who know exactly what they're doing & how to always remember that your job is to make the song better than it was before you got there, not to make it a Spotlight On Me deal, which is springsteen's problem imo). dionne, al jarreau, lionel r., tina & willie are to me the ones who outshine everybody else by not trying as hard.

LOL MJ recorded all alone, away from all their GERMS

His first parts maybe (strange that he didn't want to be near Diana Ross, I thought he had been that a lot anyway..), but he is undeniably filmed in the same room with Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper there.

for the record, We're All in the Same Gang is a bazillion times better than this twaddle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXGgWf2lacM

Some of the greatest talents in the world assembled to record a song.

This is a strenuously arguable assertion.

You don't think any of those people were among the greatest talents in the world at that time? Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Dionne Warwick, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner...? (We all know how wrong you are about Michael Jackson.)

I hate Bob Dylan, but him and Stevie Wonder alone raise the bar.

(for the assertion, I mean, not the performance)

many Alex in NYC arguments have been broken down by his undeniable love and admiration for Miss Dionne Warwick

ha yeah Bob Dylan, oops

Alex, walk on by.

Is We Are The Pizza a real thing?

Surprised no one's reppin' for Steve Perry, who plainly got inspired by the company; or Daryl Hall.

Okay, let's go through them, then, shall we?

Lionel Richie - Crap.
Stevie Wonder - Was great at one point but then became crap.
Paul Simon - See Stevie Wonder.
Kenny Rogers - Oh please. COMPLETE crap.
James Ingram - Fine, but hardly a groundbreaker.
Tina Turner - Okay, yes -- she's a huge talent.
Billy Joel - Crappy craphound of the crappiest order.
Michael Jackson - Do you really need me to go into detail here?
Diana Ross - Big talent dwarfed by massive ego.
Dionne Warwick - Nice voice, dwarfed by insane devotion to psychic friends.
Willie Nelson - Good guy, nice voice, dope-advocate.
Al Jarreau - Whatever.
Bruce Springsteen - Slavishly overrated, but a nice guy.
Kenny Loggins - Champion of shite, redeemed only by the title song to "Caddyshack."
Steve Perry - Shrill airhorn of a voice redeemed only by "Separate Ways."
Daryl Hall - Legitimately huge talent.
Huey Lewis - Legitimately huge embarassment.
Cyndi Lauper - Talented, but irritating.
Kim Carnes - A damp fart.
Bob Dylan - Wheezing, oversung gasbag of washed-uppedness.
Ray Charles - Way too talented to be sharing a studio with the rest of this gang.

Willie Nelson - Good guy, nice voice, dope-advocate.

If Willie needs an obit, here it is.

Alex in NYC Non-OTM

Al Jarreau - Whatever.
ahahaha

http://blog.cleveland.com/ent_impact_music/2008/02/medium_jarreau.jpeg

BIlly Joel = Zach Galifianakis

Cyndi's dancing is cute. Bruce is like John Travolta in a bad movie. Kenny Roger ain't so bad imo.

but the first MJ chorus is the best thing happening here.

Stevie Wonder announced at 1 am that he would like to substitute the "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" sound for a line in Swahili.[16][17] At this point, Waylon Jennings left the recording studio and never returned; he allegedly felt that no "good ole boy" ever sang in Swahili.[16][17] A heated debate ensued, in which Geldof revealed that Ethiopians do not speak Swahili.[16] Michael Jackson also disagreed with using a Swahili line, choosing to stick with the the "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" sound, which, after being sung a few times, ran into opposition as well.[16] The participants eventually decided to sing something meaningful in English.[16] They chose to sing the new line "One world, Our children", which most of the participants enjoyed, apart from Tina Turner, who liked "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" better.[16]

it's mj vs ray for me. mj is so technically sound, immaculate phrasing. restrained and subdued for him, too, which is nice to hear. you can tell he mapped out every single syllable though, whereas ray seems--SEEMS--to be winging it, and that bit of emotion fits the song better than mj's approach.
also thought tina, willia, dionne, and stevie killed it.

Ray Charles sold this one

I forgot I had "Future Days" playing while I was listening to this

Diana Ross - Big talent dwarfed by massive ego.

Mr. In NYC, with love I say to you that no fan of Killing Joke is in a position to claim that the presence of a massive ego has any mitigating effect on said person's talent.

Moreover, if Alex can point out how her "massive ego" affects her WATW performance, I'd like to read it.

Because absolutely everything about "We Are The World" sucks a massive bag of greasy cocks, that's why.

Jaz (since JOhn invoked him) may indeed have an outsized ego (though he's quite humble compared to La Ross), but at least he's ENTERTAININGLY INSANE at the same time (plus, he rocks).

http://www.gtdtimes.com/files/2009/01/surprise.jpg

Glad we settled that.

they could have tried to molest cockroach ala that very special diff'rent strokes

oates already has the mustache after all

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5p8vyWGrkO0/Rpe1aR1VuXI/AAAAAAAAAxA/T1d6FqNP4bw/s400/cosby-show2.jpg

Cliff and Claire are not having this.

"I'm out of touch and I need a refill"

Cockroach is incapable of being molsested :(

its so sad he was a cockroach

buried by Tony Montana iirc

Omg me and homie just had this convo irl

James Ingram going WE ARE THE WORLD
Ray Charles going YESSIR

Kim Carnes wuz robbed! You show me a more emotional "when we" in pop music history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IATz8ZVTALo

that 'Making Of' VHS mentioned upthread is here by the way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SGFcYLO0jg

Dylan looks hilariously uncomfortable throughout.

No problem with the results on this, except for Springsteen getting any votes whatsoever - he's so bad! He sounds like a parody act of Bruce Springsteen, and looks like Belushi doing Joe Cocker. And they keep cutting back to him! Whereas, like, Paul Simon's part is actually kind of convincing...undermined only by Kenny Rogers's bizarre facial expressions while they're overlapping each other.

Daryl Hall is the most disappointing - anybody could have done that - and Billy Joel is the most surprisingly okay, and I say that as a fan of his. Huey Lewis also sounding way better than I'd have expected, though yeah, uh, a little OTT. Ingram probably most underrated in the results here. Sort of by the numbers, but sounds great.

These things are such great windows into how, briefly, it can seem like Kim Carnes (who does nothing for this) is a bigger, more bankable charity-driving star than Bette Midler, Harry Belafonte, or Smokey fucking Robinson.

Would be into animated gifs of each performer's "greatest" moments. Just saying.

Carnes (and Kenny Rogers) were clients of co-pseudo-organizer/agent Ken Kragen, hence their presence.

Ha, there you go then!

Kim Carnes (who does nothing for this) is a bigger, more bankable

for years I've wanted to write about Carnes' post-"Bette Davis Eyes" career. She didn't even have a ride-along second top ten -- she collapsed, completely, not even visiting the top twenty again until 1985, no doubt greased by payola.

apparently moroder had a road to damascus moment over 'bette davis eyes'

epitomizes El Lay New Wave though

wonder if there's enough good stuff to make an el lay synth pop playlist - 'bette davis eyes', 'stand back', 'boys of summer'. there's probably some dave stewart stuff i'm forgetting though that's cheating kinda.

Motels!

At this point, I'm more likely to think of Kim Carnes via Tori Amos's "clone myself like that blonde chick who sings / Bette Davis Eyes," than via "Bette Davis Eyes" itself.

This thread title makes me thing it would be tight if world poverty had its own comeback diss track

My user name agrees with the Kim Carnes bashing.
Please continue.

Just watched the video for the first time in 20 years. Amazing how Cyndi Lauper's "oww wow ow ow" just defines the whole song. The only solo I could remember.

For the record, I prefer Canada's b-side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJN3u1wAWIk

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/01/27/we-are-the-world-30th-anniversary/22395455/

My favorite thing about this is from Huey Lewis on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me:

SALIE: I have to ask you about something that I loved when I was a teenager, "We are the World."

LEWIS: Right.

SALIE: Can you talk about that day? I mean were you really like - were you guys standing at craft services with, you know, like Bruce Springsteen is on your right and Diana Ross is on your left.

LEWIS: Exactly.

SALIE: What was it like?

LEWIS: It was amazing. It was amazing. I mean, I'm talking to Willie Nelson about golf and Bob Dylan over here says are you guys talking about golf?

He said yeah. And Willie said, yeah, we put the clubs on the bus. And Bob says, man, that's outrageous. He says that's outrageous. I said no, Bob, "Nashville Skyline" was outrageous. This is just golf.

SALIE: In that room, were there like cool kids and not cool kids?

LEWIS: No, but Paul Simon said - it's probably not nice to say. I don't know. Paul Simon said if a bomb drops on this place, John Denver is back on top.

lol

i legit enjoy this record, and feel a strong need to listen/watch from time to time

the more i do so, the more i appreciate michael jackson's solo chorus

Bruce really does bomb this, doesn't he? Kenny Loggins sounds great by comparison.

Michael Jackson	0

Wait, what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_tZUg8onNg

How in the ever loving fuck did Ray Charles not walk this?????

He etc

idk if this is a poll u wanna "win" necessarily

"we are the world" is something that sounds like a generic anthem until you realize how profoundly fucking weird it is

i think i must have heard it a hundred times before the bizarreness of the line "as god has shown us, by turning stones to bread" finally sunk in

also

"when you're down and out, and there seems no hope at all/BUT IF YOU JUST BELIEVE, THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN FALL"

which, in the context of what the song is meant to be about and who it's meant to be addressing, is just incredibly funny and insane

clap your hands if you believe you're not starving!

I like Greil Marcus' response "When you're done and out" ("The Ethiopians are 'down and out'?").

what does it mean to body a verse?

“If you just believe, there’s no way we can fall.” Yep, that’s all it takes to end famine in Ethiopia, just believing.

In one of the "making of" videos IIRC, there's a moment with A. Jarreau recording his part and he's so not ale to follow the rhythm you have to wonder how that's possible for a "professional" singer (especially after such a long career) !

He was a jazz guy, it was him being avant garde

I like Greil Marcus' response "When you're done and out" ("The Ethiopians are 'down and out'?").

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, December 16, 2019 4:52 AM (two days ago)

marcus also pointed out how weird it is that a song written by two guys who'd done pepsi commercials centers on the line "there's a choice we're making," which sounds like an unconscious echo of pepsi's then-current slogan "the choice of a new generation"

xpost

killed their verse in outdated rap slang

It's time: Who Bodied Their Verse On "Tears Are Not Enough"??