Original subtitles

Nothing will ever be the same after tonight.

Nothing!

Some of the artists, some of the people, some of the personalities…

Tonight is gonna be one of the most unreal nights we've ever experienced,

and I'm glad I have a good seat 'cause I don't wanna miss a thing.

- Your timing is perfect. - God, hey.

- Bruce, Lionel, you're all good? - Good. Yeah.

Bruce… Smokey's here too.

- Happy new year, baby. - Steve!

The greatest artists of a generation came together…

…with all of our ego…

…with all of our talent,

to save some lives.

Must be in a dream?

Okay, guys.

Hello. Hello.

But we only had one night. They're not coming back tomorrow.

Let's go! Now, here's what we're gonna do.

It was busy and buzzy,

and people didn't know what we were gonna be doing.

You're exhilarated, you know, just from the unusualness of the evening.

♪ We are the world ♪

There was nothing more chaotic

than trying to rope this creative ball of energy together.

This was history happening right now.

- One, two. - Let's put it on tape!

♪ One, two, three, four! ♪

All right, let's go!

Legends of rock music.

The most super of superstars.

Are you ready for me?

Here is a unique young singer.

The most exciting superstars in the music world today.

I'm comin' in.

Comin' in hot.

All right.

Let's get this party started.

- ♪ All night long ♪ - ♪ All night ♪

- ♪ All night… ♪ - ♪ All night… ♪

I will try to take you back as far as I can remember.

♪ Feel good, feel good! ♪

In the early '80s, I'd left the Commodores.

Ken Kragen, my new manager,

he said, "Well, first of all, your songs are more famous than you are,

so we're gonna stick your face next to all of those wonderful songs."

Mr. Lionel Richie!

My solo album and stuff was happening,

and so the career was taking off.

I'm a night person,

so everything in life was happening after one o'clock in the morning.

And then, one night, I received this call from Ken

that changed everything.

Ken Kragen ran a talent management company.

He had the most stellar reputation.

Ken Kragen!

Ken was a superstar.

He was as much a superstar as the artist,

but he was a superstar in the business of music.

One morning, there was an unplanned meeting.

We walked in, and we're greeted by Harry Belafonte.

That stops you in your tracks.

You're looking at Hollywood royalty.

He's legendary.

I just knew something big was about to happen.

♪ Day-o… ♪

♪ Day-o ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wan' go home ♪

Harry Belafonte was an elder statesman.

He had graduated from being a working actor and singer.

He was still doing all that stuff,

but, for the most part, we looked at him as this iconic figure,

and he had such social impact.

We believe that artists have a valuable function in any society,

since it is the artists who reveal the society to itself.

Much like civil rights needed to be amplified,

Harry Belafonte felt that the issues of poverty in the world,

certainly in Africa, needed to be told.

For some time now, we have been hearing reports

of another famine in Africa, this time in Ethiopia.

But with all else that's going on these days,

so often those reports don't have much impact.

People starving in Africa

was as far away from us as you could be.

It was just something that we saw on commercials or in documentaries.

This mother and the baby she bore two months ago

wrapped together in death.

A hungry child dies silently.

In Africa, they're dying by the thousands.

How do you look at all this overwhelming force

of need and hunger?

Something must be done.

Harry Belafonte said, "Let's do a concert,"

and Bob Geldof had already done the Band Aid single

about, a month or so before.

♪ Let them know it's Christmas time… ♪

I said, "Harry, let's just take the idea that Bob already gave us.

Let's do it. But let's get the greatest stars in America to do it."

Kragen said, "I just got off the phone with Harry Belafonte."

And, basically what he said was, "I need you."

Harry said, "We have white folks saving Black folks."

"We don't have Black folks saving Black folks."

"That's a problem."

"We need to save our own people from hunger."

He was trying to get us, the younger group,

involved in what was happening in Africa.

I said, "Of course."

It's not that I didn't have enough to do.

I mean, I was hosting the American Music Awards.

Had just been offered that invitation.

I'm about to go on my big solo tour.

The one thing for sure I knew, I wanted Quincy involved because

he's the master orchestrator.

He's a successful performer,

but he's better known as a producer and composer

who's worked with everyone from Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra

to Little Richard and Paul Simon

to Diana Ross and Michael Jackson,

Mr. Quincy Jones.

At that particular time, you could not be a producer

and be any hotter.

He had the respect of every musician on the planet.

It'd been something I had been thinking about a lot before,

you know, and Lionel called, and, he said, "Let's go."

You really had felt the need for that of all times, you know,

'cause this is the most the world's ever needed each other.

It started from there, and we went on to the obvious phrase of

"Who's gonna do this thing?"

Lionel and I got into his limo, which happened to have a phone in it.

I said, "Let's get you and Stevie Wonder to write a song."

We called Stevie. We couldn't find Stevie.

Lionel continued to try Stevie all through the night.

They all wanted Stevie Wonder. Who wouldn't?

He already had that soulful, epic, legendary status.

And also they were all close with Stevie.

But when Stevie says, "I'll call you back,"

you just wait for him to call you back on whatever timetable it's going to be.

And after that, I had Quincy on the phone.

He says, "Well, I'll see Michael tomorrow."

"I'll run it by him, see what he thinks."

♪ I said you wanna be Startin' somethin' … ♪

The man whose record, Thriller, has just become

the biggest-selling album ever,

who earned more Grammy nominations this year than anyone in history.

Michael Jackson is the man of the '80s.

Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson!

Michael and I go back to the early Stone Age days.

We were brought up in Motown,

and, as lead singer of the Commodores and lead singer of the Jacksons,

we bonded right away.

I've been working on this…

Been hidin' out. That's what you been doin', I know you have.

When he first learned how to drive,

the first place he drove was over to my house.

But he couldn't drive on the freeway because he was scared to death,

so he knew every backstreet in the world to get to my house.

But Stevie wouldn't call me back,

so Michael and I needed to start writing without Stevie.

I said to Michael,

"I can write the song by myself. You can write the song by yourself."

"But if we gonna do this together with Quincy Jones, it has to be huge."

This is my first time in the Jackson household.

That's when you do Vegas?

I realized we'd never written anything together,

and we've never spent time together.

- However you wanna do it. - Doesn't bother.

- There's a choice. - I've got 'em.

This is the Sonny & Cher team, hear this.

I realize he can't play, so he hums every part,

tapes and tapes of "dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum…"

Excuse me? I mean, it's just layered and layered of him humming.

It was pretty… amazing.

We had to identify right away what kind of song do we want.

♪ Don't you need me? ♪

Do you want one of those? Or do you want an anthem?

No. That's not what we were looking for.

There it is. There's your template.

And once you have that, now what are we gonna put on top of it?

We went through various songs we thought were just sausage.

His line was, "Where's the jelly?"

He called me "Lion-el."

"Lion-el, I want you to check out

Bubbles the chimp."

But I don't wanna hold the chimp.

Meanwhile, there's a full-on fight going on downstairs.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"What's happening in the kitchen, Michael?"

He says, "Yeah, Ricky the mynah bird is having a fight with the dog."

'Cause the bird can talk, and the dog is mad at the bird.

Meanwhile, I've got someone calling on the phone.

"Lionel, they're sending a script over for the American Music Awards."

Michael's, of course, working on his songs,

and we're really not taking it that serious, because we'll get to it.

There are ways to make this thing bigger and bigger and bigger

in terms of what it can generate, and, um…

We didn't have a song, and we didn't have a date,

but, because we had Stevie, Lionel, Michael, and Quincy,

Ken realized that they had dynamite, and they could call anybody.

It would be epic.

Back then, we had no technology.

We didn't have cell phones.

Things didn't move quickly.

Thankfully, Ken's Rolodex was massive.

I used to travel with a gigantic suitcase that was just Rolodexes.

I said to Belafonte, "We oughtn't just limit this to the Black artists."

He said, "Sure. That's a good idea."

I said, "I represent Kenny Rogers who would, I think, do this in a minute."

Kenny Rogers was a really big deal,

and we asked the other artists that we had on our roster,

like Kim Carnes and Lindsey Buckingham,

but any artist schedule takes months of planning.

Everything is a logistical nightmare.

Monday, it's the American Music Awards!

Three hot hours of the best of country, soul, and rock and roll!

Lionel Richie hosts the American Music Awards,

live, Monday at 8/7 Central.

Because Lionel was hosting the American Music Awards,

we looked at that date

and realized that would bring so many artists into Los Angeles,

expenses paid, plotted already on their schedules.

That was the pivotal point

where it was like, "Who's coming to the American Music Awards, Larry Klein?"

Back then, the American Music Awards was a big fuckin' deal.

I had Diana Ross and Hall & Oates.

I mean, I had these people booked. Prince was, Madonna was, and Cyndi Lauper.

I'm currently after Hall & Oates.

Ken Kragen called me.

He said, "I wanna put together a group of superstars,

as many people as I can get, to be on the song."

But to get these people in a room recording together,

it had to be the night of the AMAs. There was no choice.

It was less than a month. We were looking at the top charts

and saying, "Who could sell the most records?"

Please welcome his Royal Badness, Prince!

Prince was one that they wanted badly.

He had "Purple Rain."

What are you looking forward to seeing in this film?

Prince.

Anything more specific than that?

Prince.

- And anything else? - Prince.

Prince was in love with Sheila E.

Sheila E!

She was his percussionist, and she was also a great singer.

I think we needed a little bit of everything.

Steve Perry, the lead singer of Journey, had the third-highest single.

I wanted Madonna.

"Material Girl" and all of the things she did

would bring a really different audience,

but Ken wanted Cyndi.

We had a fight about that.

Can you get my Barbie doll?

I felt, you know, it was an important thing to do.

I do believe that rock and roll can save the world.

Or we should try.

The next really critical move I made was to go after Springsteen.

♪ Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. ♪

♪ I was born in the U.S.A… ♪

Okay. This chair?

Okay.

1985, I was… top of the world!

Yeah, we were very popular, and we had a great tour.

♪ Can't start a fire, you can't start… ♪

Springsteen was a rocket ship, but he wasn't going to the AMAs.

♪ Even if we're just dancing in the dark ♪

We called Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau,

and he said to me, "Look, he's finishing the tour the night before."

"He never, ever flies the day after a concert."

He said, "Let me talk to him, and we'll see."

Famine relief was important. I knew it hadn't been addressed, you know,

and you're always sitting there like, "What can I do about it?" You know?

It was a little soon.

I normally wouldn't have done it, but it looked important.

Then it was like, "Well, you have Bruce Springsteen."

"You could call Bob Dylan."

♪ The answer my friend Is a-blowin' in the wind ♪

♪ The answer is blowin' in the wind ♪

It was Bob Dylan.

He was doing "Blowin' in the Wind." When hasn't he been a legend?

Bob Dylan was known as the concerned musician.

He'd be a more natural fit than anyone,

but the mid-'80s was maybe not the best period for him.

♪ Maybe a preacher With your spiritual pride… ♪

But, you know, he's Bob Dylan. He's an enigma.

Once Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen committed,

it was just a wish list.

I know David Byrne was unavailable.

Van Halen was unavailable because they were on tour.

I wanted Bette Midler.

I wanted Dan Aykroyd.

How I heard about it was that Michael called me and said

that he was planning on doing a big event and would I wanna be a part of it?

I wasn't that aware of what was going on in Africa,

but at that time, whatever Michael did turned to gold,

so, of course, it was a no-brainer.

Man, we got the most beautiful artists in the world.

Would be awful to produce the record with this many great people on it

and it not work 'cause you don't have the right song.

We've got the cast now. Now we need a script.

Michael and I thought we had all the time in the world.

We were kiddin' around…

- This project… - Kragen calls.

…I can hardly sleep. I'm so excited about the project.

"Well," he said, "there are a lot of people waiting on this song."

"It's not just the four of you."

"My God."

He said, "I think we have Billy Joel."

"And we got Willie."

"I think we have Tina. Huey Lewis, Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Ray Charles."

That's just pressure, pressure, pressure.

"And we're gonna do this the night of the American Music Awards."

"What are you talking about?"

And then Quincy comes by.

Yeah. Here we go.

So Quincy, very quietly, just said, "I need a song."

You have to understand the severity of this situation.

The American Music Awards are coming up next week,

and Quincy has been basically rendered null and void

until we have a song.

I don't know how it happened after that. We were just possessed.

Throwing things out and whatever felt good.

I came up with a few chords.

♪ Say da-da, and all God's family ♪

♪ We want it now Da-da, and for all time ♪

Michael said, "Whoa, whoa."

♪ Da, na, na, na. Da, na, na ♪

Okay.

♪ Da, na, na, na ♪

On top of ♪ Da, na, na, da, da, da ♪

Magic.

We now have a template with mumbles

and no words.

"We are the world" was probably a line from Michael.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

"We are the what?" "We are the…"

"We are the one… We are the ones who make a brighter…"

Out of the corner of my eye…

I see some albums falling over.

And I hear…

"What the heck? What the hell is that? What the... What..."

I look over my shoulder.

There's the biggest frickin' snake.

Michael's going… "There he is, Lion-el. My God."

He lost the snake in the room.

He came out… "when he heard us singing, Lion-el,

and he wanted to meet you. He wants to say hello to you."

I mean, that's… "I gotta get outta here quick!"

I am screaming like it's, it's, it's… This is the end.

I saw this horror movie, and it's not good for the brother.

It was a very hectic lead-up to the recording session,

and the location was a really big deal.

This paper is highly confidential.

The single most damaging leak of information

is where we're doing this.

We scouted every single studio in Los Angeles,

and A&M Studios had everything.

A great location.

The sound is phenomenal.

Done.

The moment that becomes public knowledge,

if that shows up in the press,

that could totally destroy the project.

The moment a Prince, a Michael Jackson, a Bob Dylan drive up

and see a mob,

they will never come in.

Kragen was really worried about this leaking,

and they were so paranoid about it.

We've had numerous leaks of information regarding this event

that have not made it any easier to do.

- Did you ever trace where the leak was? - Internal.

- Internal here? - Gotta be careful.

This was the biggest thing happening in pop music right here in town,

so you couldn't keep it that big a secret.

Michael and I had finished writing the song,

and finally turned it in to Quincy.

"Does he like it?" That's the first question.

Jesus Lord.

I listened to it at the house and absolutely fell on the floor.

You know, I mean, fell... I mean, it was so right.

I was so happy. I mean, it's like, "Thank you, God," you know?

He loves it. Okay. Now,

we needed to put the demo down

so that the rest of the artists will have an idea of what the song sounds like.

The other one.

My name is Humberto Gatica.

I was asked to be the engineer in charge of this entire project

by Quincy Jones.

Hello?

Hello? How you doin', Louis?

Man, are you kiddin'?

Okay, so we've got Michael and Lionel over here.

We're getting ready to cut the track. We're gonna cut the basic now.

One, two, three.

♪ We can't go on ♪

♪ Pretending day by day ♪

♪ Someone, somewhere Will soon make a change… ♪

The idea was to make something simple

because it was all about the singing,

about what these voices were gonna bring to this production.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones that make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

Sorry, one more. Sorry, one more.

"It's true we make a better day." I love that, man!

It just seemed so natural to say "brighter" again.

You get a stronger feeling, though, if you use another word.

- You think so? - Yeah.

Right in the middle of the session, in walks

Stevie.

He thought we were writing the song.

And so Quincy said, "I'll talk to him,"

and Quincy took him down the hall to tell him, "We've finished writing it."

"We're already putting the demo down."

Of course, Stevie was, "Okay," you know?

- ♪ …chance we're taking ♪ - "We're taking our own lives."

♪ We're taking our own lives ♪

- "It's true we make…" - ♪ It's true we make a brighter day… ♪

You could see the shock was, "How come somebody didn't tell me?"

Well, yeah, we did. We… Three weeks, you know?

But, at that moment, the baby was about to get born.

♪ When you're down and out There seems no hope at all ♪

♪ But if you just believe ♪ You know that nothing can fall ♪

♪ Do they realize ♪

♪ That change is gonna come ♪

♪ When we stand together as one… ♪

Tomorrow, we gotta get lead sheets, a letter,

and the cassettes out to all the artists.

- Can I get it Monday sometime? - Of course.

I must have my tape by tomorrow. It's imperative.

I got a stack of 50 cassette tapes

that went to managers.

Some of them went directly to artists.

It was an interesting time. We had just had our first big hit record,

and I received the tape, the cassette tape in those days,

of the song and the invitation,

and I played the demo in my car.

I'd never met Lionel or Michael,

so, you know, it was just an amazing invite to get.

And then, I remember thinking, "Yeah, this… this is gonna be a hit."

I remember how I heard about it 'cause Lionel called me.

Lionel was my brother-brother.

So that was it. That was enough for me.

I didn't have to be coaxed or anything like that.

Quincy's office sent me a copy.

I listened to it a couple of times, and it definitely had a memorable chorus.

When I first heard it, I thought it was very broad, you know,

as music that's gonna carry

all those voices usually has to be,

so I said, "Okay, that's... that's cool."

In the letter that was sent out, one of the lines was blacked out.

That was where it was. It says that A&M studios…

Ken said, "No, you can't let anybody know it's there, man."

For him to give me details at that time would be… unnecessary.

I, like many artists that I know, don't remember shit.

Quincy called me,

and he said, "We're gonna do a new song, but I want you to handle the voices."

He said "Come on over. I wanna talk to you about it. We haven't got much time."

Quincy and I met back in 1973.

I was a white boy raised in a Black gospel church.

Quincy heard some arrangements that I had done for Sarah Vaughan,

and he invited me to his home,

and he came to the front door, and he looks up, and he goes,

"You're not white."

And that started us off.

We artistically fell in love and became brothers,

but Quincy was the general.

We ended up at my house.

Tom Bahler was there, with Quincy,

and they're in my living room.

They had a fan.

They had names of all of the artists on the floor.

Now, we have to go through the process of the arrangement of the vocals.

We had to select who's gonna do the solos,

which only have a half a line to sing,

and it has to be your sound, your style, your key in a half a line.

I started listening to every artist that was gonna sing a solo…

…looking for differences, contrasts.

♪ Born down in a dead man's town… ♪

The Boss has a dirty sound.

And I thought of Kenny Loggins next.

♪ Loose, footloose… ♪

Kenny has a clean sound

that was perfect after Springsteen.

♪ Shake it, shake it for... ♪

Bahler was studying people's vocal ranges

because he wanted to make sure they would be really comfortable

with what they had to sing.

Having worked with Tina before,

I put her very low because she's got such warmth down there.

And then you go to Steve Perry.

His range, I mean, he's electrifying in that place.

Cyndi, her voice is forceful.

Even in "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

God, I Love Huey,

but not every artist was gonna sing a solo.

Also, he was worried about who they were gonna be standing next to,

and that led to some interesting discussions

about how people were gonna get combined.

I thought what we were gonna do was have everybody come in,

one by one, go in the booth, sing it.

Quincy says, "No, no, no. We'll be here for the next three weeks."

"We'll put a circle in the room of all mics,

and everyone will sing it looking at each other."

"Ooh!"

Some of these artists are troublemakers.

There were people in there, troublemakers. Cyndi Lauper was one.

Stevie Wonder is another one.

I'm not afraid, but it's just deep water, man.

Quincy said, "Let's start at the beginning. What's gonna happen

when they come in the studio?"

We need to be able to handle whoever comes in,

and we wanted no downtime.

This has gotta be seamless because if we stop for a minute,

this thing's gonna be chaos.

I'm looking at these names. Great artists.

And I was one of them.

"What am I doing? What... What... And what on Earth

am I doing here?"

It's pretty daunting.

And then, all of a sudden…

it's time.

I was at the Shrine Auditorium when Lionel arrived in the early morning.

Your artist is hosting the biggest prime-time show on a network,

when network TV was the only thing that was happening.

We really worried about Lionel.

I tell you right now, there's more dialog than I've ever handled before in my life.

It's fun though. Lot of fun. It's always an exciting show,

and I'm looking forward to it.

If I can stay awake!

But also, we have the setup for the studio.

I got the call to volunteer to light it.

I was able to get some friends in the lighting industry to volunteer,

and I got the equipment for free.

To be honest with you, I don't think they even knew who was actually gonna come.

There was a lot of questions about artists who didn't come to the AMAs.

I was called by Quincy Jones.

All he said was, "You will be in Los Angeles tomorrow night,"

and I said, "No, I won't. I'll be in Las Vegas."

Stevie was in Philadelphia, two o'clock, the day of the event.

We'll be seeing you in the summer!

Bruce Springsteen had just finished his tour in Buffalo.

I'd heard what the weather was about back there. So we got nervous.

You realize that you have no control of what's happening right now.

It was an evening where you just… you're floating.

Hi, I'm Lionel Richie.

Tonight, we're back at the Shrine Auditorium

in Los Angeles, California

for the American Music Awards!

Look out! We're gonna be running with the night! Whoo!

Lionel, that night, he had his responsibilities as a host.

He's the leader of the show.

Nothing! Nothing will ever be the same after tonight.

He performed twice,

and he swept the awards.

Lionel Richie!

- Lionel Richie! - Lionel Richie.

- Lionel Richie. - Lionel Richie!

- Lionel Richie. - "Hello."

I think I won six awards that night while hosting.

I forgot, I'm working here.

When he was backstage, he was talking about "We Are the World."

But you only got 30 seconds. Gotta be back on the stage.

1984 saw her explode into a solo career

with her new album, The Glamorous Life.

Just wait till you see Sheila E.!

At that time, I was on the Purple Rain Tour.

It was nonstop.

By the time I got to the AMAs, I... I was delirious.

♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪

Sing it!

♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la… ♪

And I was nervous as heck.

I looked into the audience, which is the wrong thing to do,

'cause you look at the first five rows, you're like, "My God!"

Come on, everybody, sing it!

I remember Lionel telling me, "After the AMAs,

everyone's gonna go sing this song, and I want you to sing one of the verses."

And so I was like, "Absolutely."

Lionel had said he was hoping Prince would also sing a verse.

I was like, "Cool, but, you know, he's gonna do it on his own time."

And now, let's see what record will make it as Favorite Black Single.

Nominees are Prince, "When Doves Cry," Michael Jackson, "Thriller."

In a couple categories, it was Prince versus Michael.

The rivalry was real.

It would be great if Michael and Prince were together singing.

It was a great statement to make, that even these two guys,

"For saving lives, we can come together to do this."

"When Doves Cry," Prince.

Prince, his bodyguard's name was Chick,

and Chick was scarier than hell!

He was just a massively huge person,

and when Prince would win an award, Chick would walk up onstage with him.

No one's gonna attack him walking up on stage!

Well, maybe that's different nowadays.

Outrageous!

Outrageous!

Prince won those big awards. Michael didn't.

Michael wasn't there of course. He was at A&M Studios doin' his thing.

♪ As God has shown us ♪

♪ By turning stone to bread ♪

- Michael? - Yes?

"There's a choice we're making. We're saving our own lives."

Could you just leave that line out of the chorus, please?

So leave out "There's a choice…"? Can somebody bring me a lyric?

I'll leave it out, but I... I just might forget.

The first person who showed up here was Michael Jackson.

Put him right in the middle of that room. We're using a C12 microphone.

Can we take one?

He got himself

that he felt that he was in sync with the music.

♪ …your love So they know that someone cares ♪

Could we just have balance before he holds the note from there?

- Without the track? - Sure.

I was here, adjusting some lights,

and Michael Jackson is listening,

and he suddenly sings…

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

This is the most remarkable voice

I have ever heard in my life.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

Sorry.

I didn't say "better." I kept on saying "brighter" and "brighter." I forgot.

When I was asked to write this by Quincy

about, you know, for world hunger,

I put my heart and my soul into it.

♪ We'll make a better day ♪

…to say something because…

…it's so much easier for me to talk through the song.

That's really my statement.

Quincy, do you think...

I'm saying, "you…" Should I say, "you and me" or "you and I" at the end?

- I like, "you and me." - Okay.

- It's much more soulful. - More soulful, yeah.

- Yeah. - Country, man.

- Yeah. Country. - Love it, man.

That's what it's all about.

What was so interesting about Michael

is that, originally, Michael only wanted to write a song.

At first, Michael didn't wanna sing or be on the video.

He thought it was overexposure at first.

I talked Michael into being on the thing, you know?

That would've been one of the biggest mistakes of his career

if he hadn't showed up.

♪ There's a… ♪

But he was there, man. He was more than there.

- How did it sound? - Sounds great, man.

Fantastic, Mike.

Still to come, exciting performances by Tina Turner,

Cyndi Lauper, and Prince.

Kenny Kragen was at the show, in the first row,

and every time it went to commercial…

Kenny… Kenny leapt out the seat and ran backstage.

You stay in your seat, babes. You stay in your seat.

I went to him, and I said, "We have a situation happening here."

Cyndi Lauper.

Backstage, Cyndi Lauper came over to me and said,

"My boyfriend heard the song."

"I'm not gonna be able to come, because he doesn't think it's a hit."

Well, nobody knew.

It certainly was a group of great people,

but I was so punch-drunk tired.

Well, it's some year?

And after the show, it was like, "All right, you have to just go there."

I said, "Cyndi,

it's pretty important for you to make the right decision."

"Don't miss the session tonight."

What a night!

What a night!

I said to the artists, "Don't hang out here."

"Hit the road and get to A&M Studios."

Can you talk about your feelings about this record being made tonight?

I don't know what's happening.

Quincy's over there biting his nails. I wanna get over there and find out.

- I don't know. Yeah. - And the name of it?

"We Are the World."

There's a rumor that Prince and James Brown may be included in this.

- No comment. - Why? Why not?

I'm not allowed to talk about it.

Ladies and gents, we have to move on. Thank you.

Thanks a lot, everyone.

When I left the AMAs, I just knew there was a car there for me.

And then we show up.

I had no clue who was gonna be there.

I knew nothing about what the project was till I got to Los Angeles.

Quincy means an awful lot to people,

and when he's doing a project, it's something well worth being a part of.

Pretty much everything was ready to go.

Quincy asked me for a piece of paper, and he decided to write the greatest line.

"Check your ego at the door."

I was lucky enough to be one of the cameramen,

but I was just the rookie of the bunch.

I'd only moved out here three years before.

The producer said, "Go out front. They're gonna start arriving pretty soon."

The question is who was actually gonna show up.

We got Kenny Rogers coming in.

When I arrived at the studio, I realized it was the cream of the crop

of pop music for that time.

- Ray Charles, car coming in. - My God!

- Bette Midler. - I think it is.

- Christie Brinkley. My gosh! - Anyone have eyes on Billy Joel?

It was overwhelming.

Walkie-talkies is how we communicated.

Who was showing up? Who was here? Who just got here?

Kim Carnes just arriving.

This guy pulls up across the street. In this old Pontiac GTO.

Guy gets out and it's Bruce Springsteen. I'm like, "Wow, it is on."

"That's Ray. That's really him."

That's like the Statue of Liberty walking in.

To me, Diana Ross was like, "Whoa. We've hit a different echelon here."

I almost felt like I was in a dream.

Everyone was a legend to me.

Bob Dylan? I mean, I think I just said hi and walked away 'cause I was scared.

Nobody else was allowed in the studio

except the artists themselves, so nobody had assistants.

And then, we get to interact with each other,

and that was really the thrill.

It was intoxicating just to be around that group of people.

I felt like I was underdressed. I was worried.

I knew Billy Joel, so I went right over to him.

Everyone felt the magic. Everybody that you can think of

who was in show business at that time is at that recording.

We're on the risers.

Paul is on one of the lower steps, and he looks up,

and he goes, "Whoa. If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver's back on top."

- It's beautiful. So beautiful, man. - Incredible, isn't it?

We could feel the energy in the room was really high.

Ray and Willie are gonna do some singing.

But at the same time, under it is a low hum of competition.

The egos were still there. Let's not pretend that they weren't there.

Celebrities can be very difficult

when they're surrounded by managers, agents, and glam squad,

but they were not in that environment.

The biggest stars in music found it disarming.

They seemed almost timid.

It was like first day of kindergarten.

Okay, guys.

Can we have everybody clear out so we can make…

Please.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

Listen. Guys. Guys.

Quincy had to pull all of these kids together.

First, I'd like you to meet Bob Geldof

who is really the inspiration for this whole thing.

This is the man who put Band Aid together.

Game on!

And he just came back from Ethiopia, and he'd like to talk to you.

Would I?

Sweet.

Um… Well, maybe,

to put you in the mood of the song you're about to sing,

which hopefully will save millions of lives,

I think it's best to remember that the price for life this year

is a piece of plastic seven inches wide with a hole in the middle.

And I don't know if we in particular can conceive of "nothing."

But "nothing" is not having water.

On some of the camps, you'll see 15 bags of flour for 27,500 people,

and you see meningitis and malaria and typhoid

buzzing around in the air,

and you see dead bodies lying side by side.

And it's that that we're here for,

and I assume that's why we're all here tonight.

And I don't want to bring anybody down,

but maybe it's the best way of making what you really feel,

why you're really here tonight, come out through this song.

So thanks a lot, everybody, and let's hope it works.

Quincy is so savvy.

He used the Geldof speech to get people to focus on what it was about.

"We're having a good time here, but, like,

I want you to put what you feel into the song."

I'd just performed at the AMAs. You know, everyone having a great time,

and then the reality of him explaining why we're here,

you just kinda go, "Wow."

Everything sung in this room will be unison,

on each take, on harmony parts and everything,

so we don't have to stumble with harmony inside the room.

The first thing I like to do is the lead to the choruses, okay?

Can we hear about four bars without... But without the track? Acapulco!

One, two…

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones Who make a brighter day ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

Hold it, everybody, please.

If everybody could groove from their knees instead of their feet.

We're getting an awful lot of feet pounding on those risers.

The tension was there because we're not gonna have a lot of time.

Technically, we need to be really together, and we gotta move fast.

Once again, guys, please.

♪ We are the world… ♪

We had to learn the song.

You know, you had to rough it out and go over it. And, it was like that.

♪ …ones who make a brighter day ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin'… ♪

The pressure was on us, as the production group,

to make sure, when we let Springsteen go home,

when we let all these guys go home, it's done, right?

One night only

to get this right.

Right, now, we'll do that all the way through,

and up in the same octave as Michael's singing it.

Everybody that can't sing it that high, just lay out.

Just the high singers. I don't wanna get octaves on this part.

We're gonna do low octaves later.

So, if it's too high for anybody, they can just rest on the stack,

and then we'll come back and put it away. Okay?

All right.

So we'll play... We'll make a playback, and we'll start…

we'll start chopping wood, okay?

Can I hear it, Hum?

Everybody have cans?

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones Who make a brighter day ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives… ♪

Bob Dylan knows himself

he's not a singer in the way that Stevie Wonder is.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children… ♪

So Dylan was probably more uncomfortable

than any other person that was here.

Somebody's still singing an octave.

The octaves… We really can't do the octaves on this take.

- Just for them? - Yes.

Some of the singers were saying, "That's not in my range."

- How about you? - I can't do it.

Can't, right?

If it was out of your range, you're trying to figure out,

"Well, maybe I can sing a harmony," but they didn't want any of that.

They just wanted that solid unison.

There's a singers' old saying, "Suck along quietly."

Sing it while it's in your range.

When it gets out of your range, stop.

You know, there are so many voices. Nobody's gonna miss you.

One, two, three.

♪ We are the world… ♪

There's probably 60 or 70 people in the room.

It was getting pretty ripe.

My lights were big 5,000-watt, fire-breathing instruments,

so it got very warm in here.

And that added to the tension.

We had all the lighting guys and four cameramen,

and so you had to be really careful to not get your cables tangled up

and you had to be quiet.

Wait a minute.

- Guys, you gotta keep it down. - You gotta keep it quiet.

We gotta stop making noise in the takes, please.

We're shooting the video

and

putting the song together at the same time.

Can anything go wrong? Absolutely!

We were flying by the seat of our pants.

The clock is ticking. Quincy's worrying about the big picture.

My job was, if there was any problems on the floor,

solve it.

- Maybe a change. - No, I think it should be "brighter."

I feel like everyone was singing "brighter."

- This is "brighter"? - Not "better," "brighter."

Don't open a can of worms. Stay with "brighter."

Wanna do "better" or "brighter"?

"Brighter" is the one everyone's leaning to, right?

Lionel Richie is the guy to bring everyone together.

I'm walking around each little camp putting out fire.

He was on adrenaline.

He was just nonstop, but he's like that anyway.

He has stories to tell. "Let's do this."

"Let me tell you something." He's making people laugh.

He's just making the water flow in the right way.

One line you can never use in life.

"I'm not sure about this. What do you think?"

"Better" has more bite.

We have 47 artists.

If you say that, you'll have 47 different versions of "We Are the World."

So my job was to make sure,

under no circumstances, do we veer off what it is.

♪ Ulimwengu ♪

♪ Latoto ♪

What are you doin'? What are you...

What is it? What does it mean?

That's the translation for "We Are the World."

Stevie said, "I think we need to have some Swahili somewhere in the song."

"I think we should sing…"

- In what language? - Kiswahili.

Okay, thank you very much.

One, two, three, four. One…

♪ Ulimwangu Latoto ♪

Not "mwangu," "mwengu."

♪ Ulimwengu ♪

If we do this, we're gonna run out of time,

and if we run out of time, it won't be good.

I was in the corner of the room,

happened to be pretty close to Waylon Jennings,

and I just heard him go…

"Well, ain't no good 'ol boy ever sung Swahili. Think I'm outta here."

"I think I'm outta here."

Waylon walks out of the door.

"I'm not dealing with this. I don't know what that means,

but I am not gonna say it," and we lost Waylon right there.

We're listening now. Listening now.

They don't speak Swahili, he says.

Someone said, "Stevie, they don't speak Swahili in Ethiopia."

Well, there's a translation in Swahili and a translation in Amharic.

You could see the potential for a 17-car linguistic pileup.

I just think that what you're trying to do is…

There's no point talking to the people who are starving,

we're talking to the people who've got the money to give.

And, you know, it's gonna… If it turns on one person, it turns off two, maybe.

- But what words do we use? - I don't know…

- If we don't have lines… - …but they speak Amharic.

The problem is we don't have any lyrics there.

The whole point is, is it saying "we are the world"?

What do we got, Smelly?

I remember at that point, 'cause I'm shadowing Ray Charles,

and Ray goes, "Ring the bell, Quincy! Ring the bell!"

Which meant, "Let's get goin' here."

A lot of people were getting kind of impatient about it.

Everybody's tired.

People wanted to get on and get it done,

and I think that's kinda where "sha-la sha-lin-gay" may have come up.

♪ We are the world, sha-la We are the children ♪

♪ Sha-lin-gay ♪

♪ We are the world, sha-la ♪

♪ This is what we're givin' ♪

I guess it was Michael's idea

of how we can get something cultural sounding in here.

"Sha-la. Sha-lin-gay. Sha-la. 'Cause that's what they're giving."

Hey, wait, wait. Excuse me. Excuse me.

One second. One second.

Hold it! Hold it!

What we're saying is, "'Cause that's what we're giving."

What's what we're giving?

I'm one of the few people who'd say anything to Michael.

- Doesn't make sense. - "So let's start giving."

Yeah. "So let's start giving" would be better.

I've known Michael Jackson since he was ten years old

when he first came to audition to be a Motown member.

He was singing and dancing his butt off at ten years old.

Wait, what do you wanna do?

Michael's one of the greatest artists we've ever had.

One of the greatest songwriters ever.

So people were afraid to say, "No, we shouldn't do that,"

or, "That don't sound good."

Well, you tell me what "sha-la sha-lin-gay" means!

When you grew up in Motown, that's how we did each other,

and we all love each other.

Does everybody like the lyric "one world"?

- Yeah! - It's great.

- "One world." - "One world."

"One world, our children. One world, so let's start giving."

- Yeah. - Everybody. Okay.

Guys, one minute.

Please don't change it 'cause my hearing's getting bad as well.

- Let's put it on the tape! - Well if you can, it's there.

- Hit it! - It's there.

All right, hit it.

♪ One world ♪

♪ Our children ♪

♪ One world ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

Finally, we finished singing the chorus.

You know it!

And Quincy wants to say thank you to Harry Belafonte.

Remember the guy who started this whole thing, Harry Bela…

Then, all of a sudden, the most amazing thing happens.

- ♪ Day ♪ - ♪ Day ♪

- ♪ Day ♪ - ♪ Is a day-o! ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home… ♪

Harry Belafonte was the most inspirational person

for all of us who were there.

♪ Is a day-o! ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home… ♪

Al Jarreau started singing Harry Belafonte's song.

All of a sudden, everybody jumps in.

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home ♪

♪ I drank too much, I have to say ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home ♪

♪ But you have to be driven home By me or Ray ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home ♪

♪ Sing day-o, day-o, sing day- ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home ♪

♪ Daylight come and me wanna go home ♪

Thank you.

In between the breaks,

Ray would play another version of "We Are the World,"

the gospel version, the "Georgia on My Mind" version.

And so, at that moment, I overhear Ray and Stevie talking.

And Ray says, "I got to go to the bathroom,"

and then Stevie said, "I'll show you where it is."

He just grabbed him by the arm and they walk,

and everybody said, "The blind really is leading the blind,"

and we were all just bursting laughing.

Fish burger. Fish burger!

People were hungry.

- ♪ Summertime ♪ - Waffles are ordered in-house.

Chicken and waffles! Smothered chicken and waffles!

Everybody was ordering chicken and waffles, you know, from Roscoe's.

And I never seen anybody who eats chicken better than Lionel Richie.

He eats the last little piece of bone.

He sucks it up, and he eats, and he puts them on top of the other one,

so when he finishes, he has all these little bones all layered properly.

I said, "Brother, there's nobody that can eat chicken better than you."

When that break came,

Diana walks up to Daryl Hall with her music in her hands

and says, "Daryl, I'm your biggest fan."

"Would you sign my music for me?"

And we all looked around and said, "Holy moly!"

Soon as she did it, it just started happening all over the room.

Seeing Cyndi Lauper asking Lionel or the Boss,

you know, that's dope that they wanna get each other's autograph.

And then, they come and ask me, and I'm like, "They want my autograph?"

Like, "Wow, that's really cool," you know?

And so I called Prince to let him know how it was going.

I said, "I think maybe you should come."

"It's pretty cool, and, you know, everyone's hanging out."

"We're having a great time."

I'm now on the phone with Prince.

He's at Carlos 'n Charlie's.

He said, "I... I... I want... I wanna play a guitar solo."

"In another room."

I said, "No, no, no, it's… We're all in the same room."

"I need you to come and sing."

He wants to put a guitar,

you know, and we just happen to not need guitar on it.

It was getting late. I was looking forward

to singing one of the verses,

but they kept asking, "Well, do you think you can get Prince here?"

I'm like, "Wow, this is weird."

And I just started feeling like, "I feel like I'm being used, to be here,

because they want Prince to show up,

and the longer they keep me, maybe Prince will show up."

I'm sure they were waiting for his limousine to pull up,

but he didn't show up.

I already knew he wasn't gonna come, 'cause there was too many people,

and he would feel uncomfortable.

I told Lionel, I said, "I'm gonna go."

They never intended on having me sing a verse,

which was a little bit… heartbreaking.

We had done the hook, so we're now going into the solos.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are… ♪

♪ We are the world. We are the children ♪

Your two lines.

Michael came to me and said, "Prince isn't coming,

so we have a spot on the line that needs a soloist."

"Who do you recommend?" And I said, "Huey Lewis."

Huey Lewis has a great solo voice.

Somebody tapped me and said, "Quincy wants you."

They brought me to Quincy. He says, "Smelly, come over here. Get Michael."

And he said, "Sing the line for Huey."

♪ There's no way we can fall ♪

♪ But if you just believe No way we can fall ♪

So now I get Prince's line. I mean, those are pretty big shoes to fill!

- Yeah! - Can I go now? No.

From that moment on, I was nervous out of my brain.

Okay?

We got a line and waiting here.

Parts, parts, all done.

By the time we really got down to do some solos,

some people were asking, "Why does he have that part?"

Or "Why does she have that part?" And the answer was, "It fits their range."

You've got that line here. "Let us realize…"

Quincy told me who I was gonna sing with,

and I said, "Willie Nelson? Interesting."

I was certainly surprised.

We all gathered around the piano, and Stevie Wonder's playing the song,

and we sang it acoustically.

♪ As God has shown us ♪

♪ By turning stone to bread ♪

And Stevie Wonder, you could see the different voices register in his face.

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

About halfway through, as he's playing,

he's going, "Wow. So many stars."

♪ It's true we'll make a better day Just you and me ♪

Yeah!

The first run-through around the piano,

that's when we first heard what it was actually gonna sound like.

I'll never forget. It was amazing.

To hear all those personalities on that thing

for the very first time on that song…

Hair stands up on my back just thinkin' about it.

We'd marked tape on the floor with the names,

so it was a big U shape.

It started here and went all the way around.

I remember going through and counting them.

"Okay, there's gonna be three here, there'll be two here."

I'm looking at this list of names on the floor.

I'm like, "This is gonna be unbelievable."

Springsteen was here.

Testing, one, two.

I was right there.

Michael Jackson's right here. I sing right after Michael.

We got you covered.

You know it's with me, right?

That circle was the intimidating circle of life.

Quincy was right.

When it's time for your part to sing, you are going to give 200%

because the class is looking at you.

And to see everyone's preparation and vulnerability

was pretty… amazing.

You were on your game at that point.

What we do is we have mics in front of us,

but what we'll do is you lean in on your part.

And then, when the other person comes in,

when you duet with someone, whatever the case is,

when your part comes up, lean in.

Don't sing back here. You sing back here, we'll never know your words.

- Step in or lean? - No. Come on in.

- Even though your name's back here. - Do your regular thing.

- D'you follow? - Yeah.

This is real recording. It's just…

The names are back there, but the mics are up here.

- Come to the microphone! - Are we ready to do it?

- Let me know when you're ready! - Ready!

♪ There comes a time ♪

♪ When we heed a certain call ♪

♪ When the world Must come together as one ♪

Can we do it again? I messed my start.

Okay.

Stevie says he's messed up.

Heh-heh! I was flat. I was so flat.

How flat is that?

- Stevie messed up. How did he do that? - Stevie.

- Is that legal? - Never!

Stevie screws it up playfully, as only Stevie can.

Kinda almost on purpose, kinda having fun with it.

Stevie was not nervous.

Never! I never mess my note.

It's my "thoat."

Quincy raised his voice. "We gotta get you there!"

He screamed at us.

Please.

I'd never seen him like that.

Quincy, Quincy, hey!

Quincy Jones was always very calm.

His only concern was time.

We got a lot to do. Still a long way to go.

♪ There are people dying ♪

♪ And it's time we lend a hand ♪

♪ To life, the greatest gift of all ♪

- Can I help? - It's good!

- It's tough because we're... - I just get…

We're far... We're far apart. Can I help?

Then you go… ♪ Greatest gift of all… ♪

And you go… ♪ All ♪

That's my part. ♪ The greatest gift of… ♪

He's talking about switching parts. I think I can do it.

- Switch parts with me? - Step back, sing louder.

Just hard to sing it soft.

It was 4 a.m. and they're singing their most important part.

So you're gonna get a little testy. You're gonna be a little tired.

Gives me a weird jump, though, after my melody, you know?

In my camera, they're huge 'cause I'm just right there underneath 'em.

You could reach out, and you could touch that person.

They're just right there.

♪ There are people dyin' … ♪

I was a big fan of Paul Simon.

♪ It's time we lend a hand… ♪

Here he is, right here. He's singing in my face.

♪ Greatest gift of all… ♪

Kenny Rogers, when he hits that high note,

and he just squeezes his face up, it's like, "God, he just…"

♪ You know love is all we need ♪

At the time, I was thinking, "I can't believe people are paying me

to shoot this incredible stuff."

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

Dionne Warwick's turn was up, and we had a little technical problem.

♪ Won't you send them your heart ♪

- Yeah? - Are you hearing your own voice?

Yes.

♪ Won't... ♪

Indiana. Who is she? Get her outta here.

There was a little panic technically here.

We have some issue with some noise in the playback.

At one point, I said, "Whatever it takes, we gotta get this shit going."

This is… We gotta take off again, no matter what.

- Is it still there? - Yeah.

- Suppose it's leakage... - Could be someone else's mic.

All the other tracks are off.

Then there's really no excuse for this.

- Find out what the problem is. - Shoulda used my studio.

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ Whoa, just send them your heart ♪

♪ So they know that someone cares ♪

Still hearing the other voice.

- Sorry. It's a mystery. - Ghosts!

- So who you gonna call? - She... Ghostbusters!

- Aykroyd's in the echo chamber. - Aykroyd.

It kinda put a little tension.

- It's gone. - Yay.

We found it that time whatever it was.

It was a little tough, but we went right back into our plan,

getting these vocals done.

It's getting to that time in the morning where we must be as accurate as possible.

Here we go.

♪ As God has shown us ♪

Yeah.

♪ By turning stone to bread ♪

Al.

It goes all the way through to Al Jarreau, who messes up,

and so they go, "Boom," and so they start again.

♪ Stronger and free ♪

- ♪ We... As God has shown us ♪ - ♪ As God has shown us ♪

It's Al Jarreau, he was a little over-the-top in... in the

in the alcohol section.

- ♪ And so we all m… ♪ - ♪ As God has shown us ♪

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

I'm sorry. Man.

- That's Willie and me. - Right.

Al was interesting.

Okay, I gotta tell you the funny part about Al.

Al wanted to celebrate before we had done the song.

He kept saying,

"Bring another bottle of wine in. We're gonna celebrate."

So every time another bottle came in, I took the bottle back out.

Stevie, can we have the keyboard first.

We're gonna have you rehearse that little part.

We had to work very hard to get

Al's part on

before Al couldn't remember what his part was.

♪ So we all must lend a helping hand ♪

Right. Yes.

Right. Again for me?

- Just play the track. - Please?

That's enough. As... As it was there, it's enough.

Every time they go back and rewind, it takes about five minutes.

So it's like you create a real tension every time you rewind.

♪ By turning stone to bread ♪

♪ And so we all must lend a helping hand ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

"What do I do after Bruce Springsteen?" It's like… What would you do?

And then I went for a sweeter kind of soul thing.

♪ We are the ones that make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

Kenny Loggins was awesome,

and they got to Steve Perry and Daryl Hall, and it was like,

"My God."

♪ There's a choice we're making ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

- All right! - Hey.

Steve Perry can sing. He's got that great voice,

up in that Sam Cooke territory.

Gimme another one. Gimme at least two more.

These guys are getting three and four shots at their line.

Meanwhile, I'm over here on the end, and I haven't even sung my line yet,

you know, and I'm freaked out.

I was watching all of these people singing.

I just was trying to remember to breathe.

I said to Quincy and Humberto, "Next time somebody screws up,

can you just kinda keep goin' so we can rehearse our lines?"

"And the bridge?"

And he goes, "Yeah, okay, cool," and Michael, who was next to me,

says, "That's a good idea." I said, "Thanks, Mike."

- Go for the bridge now? - You wanna go bridge?

- To the bridge. Take me to the bridge. - To the bridge.

- To the bridge. - The bridge.

Everybody to the bridge.

Okay, Huey. It's your turn.

Boy, you are effing ready to go home.

Just in case something might fuck up, and let it roll.

I mean, it was just one line, but my legs were literally shaking.

♪ When you're down and out And there seems no hope at all ♪

♪ But if you just believe There's no way we can fall ♪

♪ Well, well, let us realize ♪

♪ That a change will only come ♪

♪ When we stand together as one ♪

♪ We are the... ♪

Do you want that in harm... Do you want that last...

- Do you want that last one in harmony? - ♪ Stand together as one ♪

That's so good. You want to join her? The three of you join her on…

♪ Stand together ♪

- That'd be real neat. - ♪ Stand together as one ♪

But then they said, "Sing in harmony with Cyndi and Kim."

The demo didn't have any harmony parts or any…

I'm gonna have to make something up here.

Make up a three-part harmony

in front of… …Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Kenny Loggins, Daryl Hall.

What am I supposed to sing?

That was very nerve-racking.

- ♪ …as one ♪ - That's where I am.

- ♪ We, we-ee, we ♪ - ♪ Stand together ♪

It's on "stand," isn't it? Yeah.

What's yours? What's yours, Kim?

♪ Stand together as one ♪

- ♪ One ♪ - ♪ One ♪

♪ One ♪ Something like that?

I'm too burned out to tell anybody anything.

And just hit it.

♪ When we all stand Together as one! ♪

♪ One! ♪

I'll try it. It's high for me, but I'll try it.

♪ When we… When we… ♪

♪ Well, well, well, let us realize ♪

♪ The change will only come ♪

♪ When we stand together as one ♪

♪ We are... ♪

My fault. I was a bit out of tune. I didn't go down.

I thought Huey was gonna blow his head off.

Cyndi can sing octaves, and poor Hugh was hangin' on for dear life,

so he couldn't take too many of those.

I sang it out of tune just to see if anybody would notice.

Cyndi absolutely killed that line, but there was something wrong.

Dude, listen to it. There's like harmonic things happening when she sings.

It almost sounds like conversation.

They kept saying, "What's that noise?" "What's that noise?"

Play back the first part of the other one, and then…

Humberto was going like,

"We have so much noise on her track. What is going on?"

The mic is dying. You need to replace that mic.

No, the mic is beautiful.

The mic is beautiful?

There's nothing wrong with the mic.

The mic is beautiful.

Sounds like people are talking.

Or laughing or something. Every time you sing.

Well, I don't think it's funny, and you should stop laughing

when I'm singing because…

Cyndi, you have a lot of, bracelets.

Is that…

My earrings.

That did not occur to me.

Sorry.

I'm loaded.

There goes the whole outfit!

No. I'm sorry.

That's the chatter. Okay.

That's the talking.

We needed that little moment of laughter to bring us back down

before we rounded that corner.

Do the same punch, though, Huey. Right after Michael.

♪ But if you just believe ♪

♪ There's no way we can fall ♪

♪ Well, well, well, let us realize ♪

♪ That a change can only come ♪

- ♪ When we stand together as one ♪ - ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! ♪

- I hung over too much? - No! That's gold. That's gold.

You got that?

It was a take!

Because I devoted my whole life to singing,

to be among those singers

and actually be a part of their community

was otherworldly.

If we leave Ray's hole open.

Yes. He's much older than me, you know.

This left Bob Dylan and Bruce doing the ad-libs.

Quincy called it "serious fills."

Like, "We're gonna do the serious fills now."

Bring it down a bit, Bob.

Here he is, Bob Dylan.

- "There's a choice we're making." - Yeah. But… Yeah. Okay.

He is a legendary, iconic symbol

to Americans and the world…

Quiet, please. Here we go.

…so we were expecting something amazing to happen.

♪ …our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day… ♪

Okay.

You got it. On a different track.

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we maker a better day Just you and me ♪

Okay, you just have... You have to run that…

- Okay. Sure. - …back a lot of times.

I think he was a little confused because it just didn't seem like Bob

was understanding how he was supposed to sing, or…

Is he supposed to be more like this chorus or more like Bob Dylan?

That's beautiful, and what's nice is you singing along with the chorus too.

That's the only time we do an octave. Like, that's beautiful.

- I get out right after "me," right? - Just after "you and me."

The thing you were doing up there, singing along with the chorus.

"We are the children." That's nice, man.

Quincy was amazing.

- Okay. - That's beautiful.

Production is interesting. You gotta be more than a great musician.

You gotta be like a psychiatrist.

- That's where he's goin' in on. - Stevie. Can... Can he play it one time?

The secret agent to help him get comfortable was Stevie Wonder.

We're gonna rehearse it in here first.

Stevie is an insanely great mimic.

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ Savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's a better day… ♪

Stevie sang it ventriloquially in Dylan's voice.

♪ We're savin' our own lives… ♪

Stevie's one of those guys, he can sing the phone book.

Anytime you're around him, you're around a genius,

and he's also very sweet.

Here we go, Bobby.

Must be in a dream?

But at this point, there were a lot of people in the room.

Still photographers and others.

Having all these people around, for Bob, it's not the way he normally works.

Yo! Yo!

Now, here's what we're gonna do!

One last time, if you're not in Bob's group recording,

please clear the room. Go.

Then it just became Stevie at the piano

and Dylan at the microphone and Quincy at his podium.

All right, man, let's do it.

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

Yes! Come on!

Yes! Yes!

I'm sorry. You did it.

- That wasn't any good. - I'm telling you, we got it.

That was fantastic.

If you say so.

I know you know.

I swear it is, man. It's perfect, man.

- All right. - Perfect.

Springsteen came in and said, "Nice, Dylan."

Called him "Dylan."

I'd listened to Dylan, you know, since I was a kid,

and it was great to see him there and have a little interaction with him,

so, it was fun.

"The choice we're makin'. We're takin' the... the..."

Is that the part you're talking about? Great.

So this is... this is the end, right?

This is... We're in the end? This is the end of the song, right?

- Yeah. - Okay.

One, two.

There was very serious concern about Springsteen's voice.

I'll do a little bit. You tell me if it's, you know…

Listen. It's like being a cheerleader to the chorus.

- Okay. - Know what I mean? Say, "Come on!"

- All right. - Just get it on.

I was just on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour.

I was pretty tired.

- Quincy, you ready? - Yeah.

Here we go.

But I just started singing.

♪ Choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

My voice was not great, but I sung as best as I could.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives ♪

Did I get it right there?

- Okay. - Something like that?

- Exactly like that. Exactly. - Okay.

We're gonna redo that track.

- Okay, here we go. - Right here and now?

Bruce is just quintessentially Bruce on that thing.

Sounds like he's got broken glass in his throat.

♪ We are the world ♪

- ♪ We are the children ♪ - ♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones Who make a brighter day ♪

♪ So let's start giving ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're making ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

- ♪ We are the children ♪ - ♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones To make a brighter day ♪

- ♪ So let's start givin' ♪ - ♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ Yeah, we're savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

Thank you. Thank you.

Broke a legitimate sweat, that did.

- Yeah. Hell. - You're officially on vacation.

- I can go home? - You're on vacation.

That sounds good!

We got it.

All the hard work is done.

When it was over, we were exhilarated

and exhausted to be sure. We'd been up all night.

But even then, on the evening,

you knew that we'd done something that was gonna live forever.

You killed it. And we... And we made it through.

- Is it okay? - Yeah.

Lionel, we've got good solos from everybody. It was perfect.

Okay, that's the bottom line. We feel the same.

Good.

Trying to get 40 superstars together in the same place at the same time

is impossible really.

That's why, all of a sudden, when Springsteen said,

"Right after my show, I'm coming to California."

Paul Simon, "I'm on my way."

Billy Joel, "I'm on my way."

Bob Dylan…

In this room, this family grew.

However you feel comfortable.

You can do an aerial shot.

- Quince, where you gonna sit? - Right there.

Whoa, here it comes.

The adrenaline just took the train.

The adrenaline just caught the bus.

They basically said, "That's it, guys. Wrap it up."

"Let's go home."

Whoo! What a night!

I assumed this was a paying gig. At the end, when I'm getting ready to go,

I had kinda like made up an invoice, and they go,

"Invoice? There's no invoice! This was all volunteer."

"Everybody here is a volunteer." I went,

"All right! Well, I got this cool T-shirt and a great story, so, okay!"

And Diana Ross stayed after everybody was gone.

And I hear her crying.

Quincy said, "Diana, are you okay?"

And she's like, "I don't want this to be over."

It was the sweetest thing

I think I've ever heard.

I think we left about eight o'clock in the morning,

and Quincy doesn't drive,

so I drove him back to his place in Bel Air.

It was a kind of exhilaration mixed with exhaustion.

I remember Quincy saying like, "Man, those white boys really brought it."

I was exhilarated, you know.

It's just like when you finish a concert, and you go home,

and you're just like, "Yes, I... I nailed that."

"It was… I... I feel…" You just feel good about it.

At eight o'clock in the morning, when I finally got home,

I walk in the house, and there's my family,

congratulating me on winning the awards and hosting the show,

and all I could talk about was "We Are the World."

They kept saying, "What are you talking about?"

I said, "Man, 'We Are the World' was amazing."

"I mean, last night, we did this…"

They don't know what we're talking about. It was so big and so

powerful.

That one night

overshadowed everything

that was going on in my life.

As you have heard on our own KFI News this morning and elsewhere,

you have read and been told that, in about one minute's time, at 7:50,

everybody in the world is going to be playing the same song.

"We are the world. We are the children."

Because of technology,

we're talking about it reaching the ears of a billion people.

When that kind of energy gets thrown out, it's very, very, very powerful.

Music is a strange animal 'cause you can't touch it, you can't smell it,

you can't eat it or anything else, and it's just there.

Beethoven's Fifth just keeps coming back at you for 300 years,

and that's very, very powerful, spiritual energy.

♪ There comes a time ♪

♪ When we heed a certain call ♪

"We Are the World" was something that everybody could understand.

Even if you didn't speak English, you could understand the melody.

You could understand the feeling of the song musically.

♪ It's time to lend a hand to life ♪

♪ The greatest gift of all ♪

This is an inner soul, an inner energy, that's coming from us

that was much greater than any record any of us had ever done.

♪ That someone, somewhere Will soon make a change… ♪

People can look at the song and judge it aesthetically,

but at the end of the day, I looked at it like it was a tool.

It was a tool they were trying to accomplish something with,

and, as such, it did a pretty good job.

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice… ♪

I think every individual in the world wants to contribute,

and they don't know how.

I got a feeling that we're creating a shift

in what's going on in the world today, about helping other people.

It's compassion. It's real new.

♪ Well, send them your heart ♪

♪ So they know that someone cares ♪

♪ And their lives Will be stronger and free ♪

♪ As God has shown us… ♪

The whole world singing your song. I mean, that's crazy.

In every language around the world.

It was one of those moments where you go, "My God. What have we done?"

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children… ♪

The single has already sold out its first million copies

the first weekend it's been on release.

In the last month, America's children

have made this record dedicated to Africa's children

the fastest-selling single in US history.

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

♪ When you're down and out And there seems no hope at all… ♪

I heard the song for the first time in my shower.

♪ But if you just believe… ♪

The record was amazing, and then my line came, and it was okay, and I was…

♪ …well, let us realize… ♪

I am a part of something that has been life-changing,

and it's very humbling.

♪ When we stand together as one ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children… ♪

The collective power of artists can be very impacting.

If we all put our egos aside

in the service of people in the world who are less fortunate.

We're truly all one people.

We are all in need of each other.

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

This is the realization of the dream of USA for Africa.

This is the beginning of the second phase of our activities,

feeding people and saving lives…

♪ It's true we make a better day Just you and me ♪

♪ We are the world… ♪

I take it one at a time. Whether we can feed one person,

or we can feed one million,

the point is to get in.

♪ So let's start givin' … ♪

The ripple effect that "We Are the World" had

was that everyone wanted to try and do it.

An artist suddenly realized that they could now make a change in the world.

It's one of those things that kids who haven't even been born yet

will know about because it was a unity through music.

Your turn to sing!

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true we'll make a better day Just you and me ♪

♪ It's true we'll make a better day Just you and me ♪

My dad said something to me years ago.

He said, "Enjoy coming home,"

because there's gonna come a time

when you can't go home.

I said, "Dad, what does that mean?"

He said, "Well, the house will be there."

"The people in the house won't be there."

This is that room.

That's the board. It's right in there, and

Humberto's not sitting behind it.

Michael Jackson was… right there,

in this room.

Springsteen did his part right over there in that corner.

And Cyndi Lauper was right here.

It's very special.

I think about this room

as my house.

This is the house

that "We Are the World" built.

♪ There comes a time ♪

♪ When we heed a certain call ♪

♪ When the world Must come together as one ♪

♪ There are people dying ♪

♪ And it's time To lend a hand to life ♪

♪ The greatest gift of all ♪

♪ We can't go on ♪

♪ Pretending day by day ♪

♪ That someone, somewhere Will soon make a change ♪

♪ We're all a part of God's great big family ♪

♪ And the truth You know, love is all we need ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones Who make a brighter day ♪

♪ So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're savin' our own lives ♪

♪ It's true, we'll make a better day ♪

♪ Just you and me ♪

♪ Well, send 'em your heart ♪

♪ So they know that someone cares ♪

♪ And their lives Will be stronger and free ♪

♪ As God has shown us ♪

♪ By turning stone to bread ♪

♪ And so we all must lend a helping hand ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true, we make a better day ♪

♪ Just you and me ♪

♪ When you're down and out ♪

♪ And there seems no hope at all ♪

♪ But if you just believe ♪

♪ There's no way we can fall ♪

♪ Well, well, well, let us realize ♪

♪ That a change can only come ♪

♪ When we stand together as one ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children ♪

♪ We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start givin' ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true, we'll make a better day ♪

♪ Just you and me ♪

♪ There's a choice we're makin' ♪

♪ We're saving our own lives ♪

♪ It's true, we make a better day ♪

♪ Just you and me ♪