Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

As you all know, the line follows right behind Michael in the bridge.

What are you blubbing about? Prince made the right decision.

Genesia said:

What are you blubbing about? Prince made the right decision.

I think so too, but it's always fun for me to think of the couldve been interactions.

But also, it was hilarity watching the behind the scenes and Huey was practicing the shit out of his lines and Michael was watching like he was fed up with the voice lol

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

As you all know, the line follows right behind Michael in the bridge.

We are the World....one of the schmaltziest, corny, self serving things ever to happen in popular music.

I am glad Prince wasn't there. Especially in 1985. He gave them Sheila E. and 4 The Years in Your Eyes.

What they really wanted was Batman (Prince) standing next to Superman (Michael). Trouble is, Batman works best on his own terms and in his own cave....

[Edited 2/12/20 9:02am]

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

Thirty-five years later, this isn't news. Even on the reprinted sheet music in a book, all the singers names were over their parts, and Prince's name was hovered over by Huey.

And to Skywalker - in 1985, it wasn't schmaltz. It was all over the damn place. For any of us alive during that time (I don't know your age), as teenagers, it was as real and fun as "Human Nature" or "Time After Time." Of course, hindsight etc. It's cringy now, but back then? Sheeeet. To have all those people in the same room without the pretense of an award show was pretty amazing.

It would've been interesting to see Prince there, though. Sheila seemed out of place or awkward, which is weird since she'd been in the business a long time already, and probably knew a good deal of those people.

I'm surprised no one ever talks about the Waylon Jennings story. His name is on the single. But he's not on the song or in the video. The story goes that when MJ suggested a background on the chorus of "Sha-la, sha-ling-gay" (or similar but was replaced with "one world..." "...are the children"), Waylon protested that a country boy wasn't singing some African music, and walked out. To me, that's more interesitng than the Prince story.

skywalker said:

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

As you all know, the line follows right behind Michael in the bridge.

We are the World....one of the schmaltziest, corny, self serving things ever to happen in popular music.

I am glad Prince wasn't there. Especially in 1985. He gave them Sheila E. and 4 The Years in Your Eyes.

What they really wanted was Batman (Prince) standing next to Superman (Michael). Trouble is, Batman works best on his own terms and in his own cave....

[Edited 2/12/20 9:02am]

I dont think it was schmaltz tbh...to have all those artists in one room was amazing for its time. I think

But also idk what made Quincy want to push his luck again with the Prince/MJ Bad collab two years later if he denied a charity collab.

(Bit off topic but speaking of self serving, A question was brought up about this We are the world session where one of the QLS hosts was asking Al B Sure last year (because of his Quincy ties) if the artists donated songs to the project...did they also donate their publishing. Because the B-side of the We Are The World single is a song called Grace written by Quincy...and if Quincy put it on the back of a record that he knows is going to sell then he a pulled a fast one)

[Edited 2/12/20 9:32am]

TrivialPursuit said:

I'm surprised no one ever talks about the Waylon Jennings story. His name is on the single. But he's not on the song or in the video. The story goes that when MJ suggested a background on the chorus of "Sha-la, sha-ling-gay" (or similar but was replaced with "one world..." "...are the children"), Waylon protested that a country boy wasn't singing some African music, and walked out. To me, that's more interesitng than the Prince story.

Actually it was Stevie Wonder, who wanted to add some lines in Swahili to the song. Waylon did not want to do that. Ray Charles did not want to sing that either. Someone pointed out that the money was mostly going to Eithiopia where they didn't speak Swahili anyway. It was dropped but Waylon was gone already. It's rumored that he later returned.

How Waylon Jennings Forever Changed We Are The World

TrivialPursuit said:

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

Thirty-five years later, this isn't news. Even on the reprinted sheet music in a book, all the singers names were over their parts, and Prince's name was hovered over by Huey.

And to Skywalker - in 1985, it wasn't schmaltz. It was all over the damn place. For any of us alive during that time (I don't know your age), as teenagers, it was as real and fun as "Human Nature" or "Time After Time." Of course, hindsight etc. It's cringy now, but back then? Sheeeet. To have all those people in the same room without the pretense of an award show was pretty amazing.

It would've been interesting to see Prince there, though. Sheila seemed out of place or awkward, which is weird since she'd been in the business a long time already, and probably knew a good deal of those people.

I'm surprised no one ever talks about the Waylon Jennings story. His name is on the single. But he's not on the song or in the video. The story goes that when MJ suggested a background on the chorus of "Sha-la, sha-ling-gay" (or similar but was replaced with "one world..." "...are the children"), Waylon protested that a country boy wasn't singing some African music, and walked out. To me, that's more interesitng than the Prince story.

Definitely my first time hearing about this Waylon Jennings story. Going to look it up more.


Sheila felt outta place for sure. I mean she played on Dont Stop till you get enough which she didnt get credit for...and also because she was Diana Ross' percussionist but quit after the second show cause Diana dogged her since Sheila's family came to support and were screaming for Sheila and not Diana

TrivialPursuit said:

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

Thirty-five years later, this isn't news. Even on the reprinted sheet music in a book, all the singers names were over their parts, and Prince's name was hovered over by Huey.

And to Skywalker - in 1985, it wasn't schmaltz. It was all over the damn place. For any of us alive during that time (I don't know your age), as teenagers, it was as real and fun as "Human Nature" or "Time After Time." Of course, hindsight etc. It's cringy now, but back then? Sheeeet. To have all those people in the same room without the pretense of an award show was pretty amazing.

To anyone who wasn't a teenager in 1985, it was totally cringey in the moment.

TrivialPursuit said:

AZStreet said:

Listening to Questlove Supreme on my way to work. He was interviewing Huey Lewis.

They were talking about how Huey got one of the leads and he said that he was given what would have been Prince's line.

Thirty-five years later, this isn't news. Even on the reprinted sheet music in a book, all the singers names were over their parts, and Prince's name was hovered over by Huey.

And to Skywalker - in 1985, it wasn't schmaltz. It was all over the damn place. For any of us alive during that time (I don't know your age), as teenagers, it was as real and fun as "Human Nature" or "Time After Time." Of course, hindsight etc. It's cringy now, but back then? Sheeeet. To have all those people in the same room without the pretense of an award show was pretty amazing.

It would've been interesting to see Prince there, though. Sheila seemed out of place or awkward, which is weird since she'd been in the business a long time already, and probably knew a good deal of those people.

I'm surprised no one ever talks about the Waylon Jennings story. His name is on the single. But he's not on the song or in the video. The story goes that when MJ suggested a background on the chorus of "Sha-la, sha-ling-gay" (or similar but was replaced with "one world..." "...are the children"), Waylon protested that a country boy wasn't singing some African music, and walked out. To me, that's more interesitng than the Prince story.

I was in grade school when "We Are The World" was going on. Yeah, we thought it was cool then. Yet, compare how well "human nature" and "time after time" have aged compared to We are the World.

This shit again? I always turned the channel when it came on the radio.

AZStreet said:

(Bit off topic but speaking of self serving, A question was brought up about this We are the world session where one of the QLS hosts was asking Al B Sure last year (because of his Quincy ties) if the artists donated songs to the project...did they also donate their publishing. Because the B-side of the We Are The World single is a song called Grace written by Quincy...and if Quincy put it on the back of a record that he knows is going to sell then he a pulled a fast one)

I have the maxi single & album (and the DVD too). Grace is not on the album. Maybe he was expecting the single to sell more than the album.

I just looked up the Artists For Haiti version from 2010. It has a promo maxi single with Mike's Heal The World and his solo demo of We Are The World, plus the USA For Africa original.

MickyDolenz said:

AZStreet said:

(Bit off topic but speaking of self serving, A question was brought up about this We are the world session where one of the QLS hosts was asking Al B Sure last year (because of his Quincy ties) if the artists donated songs to the project...did they also donate their publishing. Because the B-side of the We Are The World single is a song called Grace written by Quincy...and if Quincy put it on the back of a record that he knows is going to sell then he a pulled a fast one)

I have the maxi single & album (and the DVD too). Grace is not on the album. Maybe he was expecting the single to sell more than the album.

I just looked up the Artists For Haiti version from 2010. It has a promo maxi single with Mike's Heal The World and his solo demo of We Are The World, plus the USA For Africa original.

Hmm I wonder cause I looked it up

https://www.discogs.com/U...e/10120051

I was in school back when it came out and it was cringey then and it is cringey now.

Our Band Aid however, THAT was a great tune and well done.

skywalker said:

I was in grade school when "We Are The World" was going on. Yeah, we thought it was cool then. Yet, compare how well "human nature" and "time after time" have aged compared to We are the World.

No arguments there!

TheFman said:

I was in school back when it came out and it was cringey then and it is cringey now.

Our Band Aid however, THAT was a great tune and well done.

Both songs sucked, sorry.

You really can't properly assess/categorize schmaltz in the moment. It takes a couple years of cooling off and another few of reflection to truly bask in the wafting fromage of what was always crisp reality.

[Edited 2/13/20 4:11am]

WhisperingDandelions said:

You really can't properly assess/categorize schmaltz in the moment. It takes a couple years of cooling off and another few of reflection to truly bask in the wafting fromage of what was always crisp reality.

What a ridiculous statement. Of course, you can.

funkaholic1972 said:

TheFman said:

I was in school back when it came out and it was cringey then and it is cringey now.

Our Band Aid however, THAT was a great tune and well done.

Both songs sucked, sorry.

Wait a minute, you're not sorry at all!

Prince was in NO WAY going to sing a song that was written by someone else, much less Michael Jackson. He was at the apex of his career and he was expected to sing from the second twin tower of rnb-pop? Fuck outta here! lol. And that story of him not being able to go out and pretend he was under the weather? After dude finished the award show with stellar performance and winning mainstream televised awards? He was expected not to go out partying? FOH! It's understandable wanting to go out and celebrate. They wanted him to stay in a hotel all night after his triumph? No way.

.

[Edited 2/13/20 11:05am]

Genesia said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

You really can't properly assess/categorize schmaltz in the moment. It takes a couple years of cooling off and another few of reflection to truly bask in the wafting fromage of what was always crisp reality.

What a ridiculous statement. Of course, you can.

Mm, okay, maybe you can, Sunshine, but I can't.

rdhull said:

Prince was in NO WAY going to sing a song that was written by someone else, much less Michael Jackson. He was at the apex of his career and he was expected to sing from the second twin tower of rnb-pop? Fuck outta here! lol. And that story of him not being able to go out and pretend he was under the weather? After dude finished the award show with stellar performance and winning mainstream televised awards? He was expected not to go out partying? FOH! It's understandable wanting to go out and celebrate. They wanted him to stay in a hotel all night after his triumph? No way.

Plus, if he hadn't gone out, we never would've gotten Hello - so there's that.

MickyDolenz said:

Genesia said:

What are you blubbing about? Prince made the right decision.

I agree, and think that Prince made the right decision as well. I still can't picture Prince among all those singing such a cheesy song.

RODSERLING said:

No, MJ sang it in the early demo, well before Stevie Wonder heard it. You are all confounding stories.

Mike sang no Swahili in the demo. I wasn't taking about the "Shalingay". The part where Mike brings up the Shalingay to the choir is on the behind the scenes DVD hosted by Jane Fonda. They also start singing Day-O because Harry Belafonte is there. Waylon left because of the Swahili idea by Stevie, which is mentioned in the article. Stevie has sang in other languages on his own records. I have a Motown compilation of various acts doing their songs in other languages including Stevie singing in Italian & Spanish. Sort of like The Beatles doing German versions of a couple of songs. You can also see Waylon there on the behind the scenes, but it doesn't show the argument or him walking out. I guess its hidden in a vault like The Supremes shoving match at Motown 25. The DVD has a later 10th anniversary TV special that mentions the Hands Across America thing too.

AZStreet said:

Hmm I wonder cause I looked it up

https://www.discogs.com/U...e/10120051

Grace is a slow song. A lot of synths like a lot of mid-1980s smooth jazz. It sounds like it could be the music playing for a sports montage or playing in the background of a soap opera.

AZStreet said:

Genesia said:

What are you blubbing about? Prince made the right decision.

I think so too, but it's always fun for me to think of the couldve been interactions.

But also, it was hilarity watching the behind the scenes and Huey was practicing the shit out of his lines and Michael was watching like he was fed up with the voice lol

Michael Jackson, Q, and it appears SEVERAL people got a good laugh out of Huey Lewis one line. And I have to admit, it didn't sound too good in practice. Especially immediately after MJs silky sound.

MickyDolenz said:

pdiddy2011 said:

AZStreet said:

I think so too, but it's always fun for me to think of the couldve been interactions.

But also, it was hilarity watching the behind the scenes and Huey was practicing the shit out of his lines and Michael was watching like he was fed up with the voice lol

Michael Jackson, Q, and it appears SEVERAL people got a good laugh out of Huey Lewis one line. And I have to admit, it didn't sound too good in practice. Especially immediately after MJs silky sound.

I'm not sure I've ever seen two worse bact-to-back performances (Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper). That was GHASTLY.

I don't know how the other artists kept a straight face.