Listening Journals 5 - Essay Example

This recording brought together famous and renowned musicians form America and they formed what has over the years been called a super group. The producers behind the song are Quincy jones and Michael Omartian. It has sold well over 20 million copies worldwide since May 7th 1985 (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 25). The song was written in a very unique style. It was meant to accommodate all the artists who would participate in its recording. The song is sung from a first person viewpoint, which gives the audience to comprehend the message of the song, especially behind the singing of the word “we” in unison (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 67).

The first verse is sung by Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina turner and Billy Joel. Michael Jackson and Diana Ross come in to sing out the first chorus as a duo, followed by Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau who bring out the words of the second stanza. The second chorus is sung by Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall. The bridge of the song is done by Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 56).

The song concludes with Ray Charles and Bob Dylan singing the chorus, Wonder and Springsteen singing out a duo while Charles and Ingram performs an ad lib. The main reason for giving these artists specific parts in the song is to create a sense of unending surprise and an emotive build up for the listeners. ‘We are the World’ became a hit single within no time after its recording. It was termed as one of the most popular pop songs at that time. It received good air play and very high sales were recorded immediately after its release.

In the history of pop music at that time, the song was said to top the American as well as the world charts. Its success was attributed to the contribution of Michael Jackson, an all-time award winning pop artist. The song required many instruments for its recording. This includes; cymbals, bass drums, electric bass, trumpets, trombone, clarinet, flute, xylophone, snare drum, tuba, vibes and multiple bass drums. All these instruments are synthesized to bring out a melodious flow of the song from the beginning to the end.

The producers were able to harmonize these instruments with the voices of all artists to come up with unique sound effects. Listeners of this song have been quoted saying that the song is well harmonized. Even with the use of all these instruments, the words of the song are heard clearly, which of course was the main aim of the producers. The social drive behind the production of this song was to help aid the Africans who were famine driven. In one of the recording sessions one of the artists, Bob Geldof, addressed the rest (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 23).

He said that what was happening in Africa was tragic and it was important that the world got together to help the continent. He described the catastrophic scene in Africa; 15 bags of flour for 270,000 people, dead bodies piling up one on top of the other and airborne diseases been felt everywhere as the main reason as to why the artists were gathered in the recording studio in the middle of the night. The song gained worldwide recognition, not only because it sounded good but majorly because of the reason for its production.

People were happy to buy the album knowing that the money would go to help out the hunger stricken parts of