we are the world

There is a new documentary on I think Netflix produced by Lionel Ritchie who must be relishing his comeback from punchline (which he didn't deserve - he's fine I guess) to legend status (I mean he's fine but ditto) who also narrates. It's the story, or a brief version of the story, of 'We Are the World', a song I considered obnoxious when it came out and ever after but which I have to say after watching this has been stuck in my head since. I hate it (the song). I wonder why this documentary was created on the 39th anniversary of WATW, and also, why only a few participants are interviewed in it (Huey Lewis - Dionne Warwick - Cyndi Lauper, Sheila E - I can't remember who else - some of the tech people). 

There are some bits that interest me that, being 20 at the time and knowing nothing (admittedly I still don't know nothing very much) didn't really hit me in 1985. For instance that the racial mix of WATW was important and that it was a black-initiated project. Harry Belafonte's idea, apparently, and Ritchie's composition with Michael Jackson (hilariously, Stevie Wonder was invited to be cocomposer and agreed but he didn't show up to do anything until the day of recording, when he arrived imagining they were all going to write the song). 

The documentary is worth watching to observe Bob Dylan's incredible unease in the studio as he tries to figure, I guess, how to present himself. He and Springsteen were highlighted in there, disproportionately to their worth as artists amongst people like, obviously, Stevie Wonder etc. But maybe that was just how it had to be - the single wasn't a work of art, it was a demand for bucks from stars who had suspended making art for the time being. So, the fly-on-the-wall stuff makes it all worth watching. Michael Jackson is presented not as a creepy paedo (which he was, right?) but as a childlike munchkin with funny, scary pets such as a snake. Al Jarreau is represented as drunk and Sheila E suggests she was probably only invited along in the hopes that she could persuade Prince to come (she couldn't). 

Obviously this is one single the value of which can only be measured in how much money it made. It has no artistic merit, and all soloists were just playing themselves. It could have been recorded by impressionists. None of which explains why I can't get it out of my head right now... I played sides 3 and 4 of the Toy Love live album yesterday, damn it!