Our local PR association is being challenged by the state organization to come up with an adaptation of an 80's video, movie, etc. to show at the annual state conference. It's something sort of fun they do every year to shake things up a bit, demonstrate creativity and get the chapters involved a friendly little war.
I can't make it to the conference this year, but I'm pretty impressed with what my fellow association peeps have come up with: an adaptation of "We Are the World" called "We Tell The World." Now how clever is that? They got together last night to record it at a local studio that donated the time for the love of fun and competition. Can't wait to see the final result.
Meanwhile, I can't get the original "We Are the World" out of my head.
I was in third grade when it came out and became hugely popular. It really brought alive my very first awareness of the troubles around the world and the belief that we share a responsibility to help people everywhere who are in need. The feeling I got from the song and the video were exactly what was intended. It was before the days of skepticism, back when I believed everything was golden and lovely and people helped because they cared, not because it was politically correct.
I still feel that way about all of the artists who came together to make the song. I will always remember the opening lines with Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder. "There comes a time, when we heed a certain call--when the world must come together as one..."
Do you remember when the song came out? Was it inspiring for you? Does it remind you of a certain time in your life?
7 comments:
oh yes, I remember it well. Still have a crush on Bob Geldof
Everything did seem less cynical in those days. For some reason I thought that a musical event would provide a magical solution. Perspective changes and people mature.
Just in case you have the old blog listed in your reading list, it doesn't have feeds anymore. This link will provide the feeds, if you feel inclined to pop over once in a while. You're always more than welcome.
http://poyndexter-updates.blogspot.com/
Enjoy your weekend!
I was getting ready to go to college, and I was more cynical then than I am now. ;-) To me, then, it was a bunch of stars grabbing the spotlight to "help" a bunch of starving people in Africa. To me, true philanthropy is done in secret, by people who wish to do good without benefiting from any publicity about it. So the whole WATW thing seemed very hypocritical to me, a bunch of fat Hollywood types who don't know what suffering is. Plus, they're saying, "feed these starving people in Africa" without giving any thought to what that would do - keep the situation the same, a bunch of people living in a place that can't sustain them, instead of FIXING the problem, like teaching them about contraception so they don't keep having more babies only to starve, teaching them new methods of farming or actually helping them LEAVE that region to go somewhere else where it's actually habitable. Teach a man to fish, you know. Anyway. Typical Hollywood solution, "band aid" for the symptoms instead of fixing the cause. Twenty-five years later, things are pretty much the same in Africa, you just don't hear about it.
And I love Cyndi Lauper, but her solo around 3:00 was always too screechy for me.
All that said, I think the sentiment in 1985 was much much more sincere and hopeful than the sentiment behind the 2010 Haiti remake. I admire 1985's bunch for that.
I LOVE "We Are the World." I wanted to be a singer in it. LOL. I recently bought the anniversary DVD. It was so interesting to see who is still famous and who I didn't even recognize.
I like that song. It always gets stuck in my head. Like now.
Marvin, you are hilarious. Why don't you tell us what you really think? :) I agree about philanthropy to some degree and certainly about getting to the real source of the problem.
At the time WATW came out, there was a crisis that needed immediate attention. What the song did for me and for so many others is awaken us out of our own insular world to see that people did live very differently elsewhere but that we have more in common with them than one would think.
I loved it. Plus the song was actually good. :) Thanks for always visiting.
We must have been tiny, but my sister and I knew it off by heart and sang it with our older family friends and cousins.
Post a Comment