FEATURE:
Together, Apart
PHOTO CREDIT: @arstyy/Unsplash
Should We Launch a We Are the World-Style Charity Single?
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AS so many artists are unable to…
IN THIS PHOTO: Sir Elton John
perform gigs, promote records and be out in the world, we are seeing more and more home-streamed gigs and concerts. Some are doing this so they can connect with fans, whilst others are raising money to combat Covid-19. One such event that happened recently was when stars such as Elton John And Billie Eilish performed from their homes:
“LOS ANGELES: Billie Eilish sang on her sofa, Elton John played a keyboard belonging to his children, and the Backstreet Boys sang in harmony from five locations as dozens of musicians put on a fundraiser for the warriors against a coronavirus.
Those who performed from their homes for the "IHeart Living Room Concert for America" also included Mariah Carey, Camila Cabello, Alicia Keys, Shawn Mendes and Sam Smith.
The one-hour show, broadcast on Fox television without commercials”.
It is heartening to see big artists pull together and use their vast platforms in order to raise money and awareness. I like the fact that artists now, more than ever, are utilising the Internet for good. In fact, we have more access to gigs and album listening parties than we used to. Whilst many artists are choosing to stream gigs to entertain their fans, the charity aspect is one I feel more and more people will undertake. Although there are positive signs to suggest the virus is slowing in many parts of the world, there is still a way to go, and we need to get funds and supplies to the front line.
IN THIS PHOTO: Alicia Keys
This sort of urgency, when it comes to the music world, suggests we need to a charity single. It is hard to do that, as artists are isolated and cannot get together in a studio. A report in The Guardian last week highlighted an effort by Lionel Ritchie regarding the 1985 single, We Are the World:
“This week, as citizens in countries across the world isolate themselves to combat coronavirus, Lionel Richie, who co-wrote the 1985 USA for Africa charity mega-single We Are the World with Michael Jackson, told People magazine that he was revisiting the kitsch anthem that reportedly raised more than $75m (£61.1m) for Ethiopian famine relief. Richie is still proud of the central line of World’s chorus, “There’s a choice we’re making – we’re saving our own lives,” which he says has new relevance in the time of Covid-19. “What happened in China, in Europe, it came here [to America],” he said. “So, if we don’t save our brothers there, it’s going to come home. It’s all of us. All of us are in this together.”
To his credit, Richie is leery of openly celebrating the 35th birthday of the song, released on 7 March 1985. “Two weeks ago, we said we didn’t want to do too much [about the song] because this is not the time to sell an anniversary,” he told People. “But the message is so clear … every time I try and write another message, I write those same words.”
Richie’s heart is in the right place – the world could use more supra-national fellow feeling during a pandemic – and he has not yet begun rounding up stars for a new version presumably spliced together from home recordings. Surely such a reboot couldn’t be worse than the recent, awful, multi-superstar video-selfie singalong to John Lennon’s Imagine? But idle hands are the devil’s playthings, and before the stir-crazy, homebound Richie starts texting the luminaries in his phone book, he might want to remember the last time We Are the World was revived, in 2010. Heck, he might want to remember the suspicion that greeted the song in 1985.
From the start, World’s motives were not entirely pure. It was America’s response to an implied dare. As I chronicled in an episode of my podcast Hit Parade about the history of the charity mega-single, the whole reason artist manager Ken Kragen and musician and social activist Harry Belafonte mounted USA for Africa was to imitate – and better – Band Aid’s 1984 UK benefit record Do They Know It’s Christmas? Bob Geldof, co-writer of Christmas? and instigator of Band Aid, made the dare to America plain, by travelling to Los Angeles the night of the We Are the World recording to lecture the Yanks on the horrors of Ethiopian famine and their obligation to record. Reportedly, Geldof’s sermon so freaked out Michael Jackson that he hid in the toilet.
There is little to suggest, 10 years later (there’s another of those nice, round numbers) that a third version of We Are the World would improve on the era of Jamie Foxx and Josh Groban, never mind the logistics of trying to stitch together a recording from soloists recording in place in their mansions and compounds. Richie is absolutely correct that the world needs to come together in spirit at this perilous hour – and I don’t blame him for regarding the timing of Covid-19 and the track’s anniversary as rather cosmic. But he might just want to leave it there, rather than heed a certain call”.
There is always snobbishness when we consider charity singles like We Are the World and the Band Aid efforts. Some say that rich musicians coming together to support those less well-off is hypocritical or lacks empathy; others just don’t like the song that they sing. A while back, a few celebrities got together in various locations to perform a rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine – it was widely panned, and it is a bit cringe-worthy. Whilst their hearts were in the right place, I don’t think we can dismiss the power of a big charity single. I think a new version of We Are the World, if done right, could raise a lot of money. Even if you are not a fan of the song, the fact money is being generated to help those in need is something nobody can object to.
PHOTO CREDIT: @joshsorenson/Unsplash
I guess, if a producer(s) helmed it, we would not need artists to combine via video and record that way. You can get a studio-quality performance remotely, and it would be impractical having a lot of artists in the same studio under normal circumstances. I do feel a newly-written single might be better than trying to adapt a song meant for another cause – and a cover version would seem lazy. It does not need masses of voices in the mix: maybe a dozen so artists on the same track would be just about enough. So many individual artists are trying to raise funds, so a group effort would be welcomed too. The questions come down to who will appear on the single and whether the song – whomever writes it – is specifically about Covid-19 or it is a general message of unity and awareness. I do feel there is an appetite and need for something like this, as we all want this to be over, and a song featuring some big artists (and some smaller ones), if it strikes the right tone, would be popular – this is not a time for being dismissive and critical (although the version of Imagine from a bit back was very odd and misplaced). Whilst so many artists are separated and cannot produce and promote music like they have done, a concerted charity effort, I feel, would join so many people and raise…
PHOTO CREDIT: @alexmedia/Unsplash
A lot of money for a worthy fight.