Living in the COVID World ... and Beyond #45: The Greatest Night

I recently watched The Greatest Night in Pop, a movie about the making of “We Are the World.”   For those that don’t remember (or never knew), “We Are the World” was a popular hit song created in 1985 to raise money for African famine relief.

I remember the song – I liked it at the time.   It has a great tune and meaningful lyrics.   What I did not remember was who wrote and produced it, and who were all the great singers and musicians involved in performing together to create it.  

The movie is the story of the days leading up to the recording and then the night at which the recording took place.   Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie wrote the song together, and Quincy Jones was the producer.   Somewhere around 50 singers and musicians were there for the recording session which lasted until early in the morning the next day.   Talk about a facilitation challenge: the most celebrated singers of that time were there, and they needed to be arranged and choreographed and integrated together.   In advance, someone had assigned lines to various singers based on their vocal skills and someone else had figured out where each person would stand through the recording.   And I think Quincy Jones had written and taped on the door of the recording studio a sign which read: “Check your egos at the door.”   I appreciated the movie showing what it took to orchestrate an event like this.  And I appreciated seeing how committed these stars were to joining together in the face of a visible horrific world event and lending their fame and time to support a just cause.

The song starts with this first verse:

“There comes a time when we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying

Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life

The greatest gift of all”

And then later the song continues:

“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, oh, that a change can only come

When we stand together as one”

Change comes when we stand together as one.   This is a powerful lyric.   And I love the story of these musicians coming together as one, modeling unity.

I can’t help but think about issues that we are facing today.

I have started imagining a concert – maybe in Rafah, maybe in Jerusalem, or Kiev, or Moscow, or Khartoum (the list of potential places is unfortunately long) – headlined by Beyonce and Taylor Swift performing together, singing duets with others chiming in with choruses and harmonies.   The thought, even as only a fantasy in my mind, brings tears of hope.

Maybe we can come together as people who care and “lend a hand to life.”

I want to believe we can do so, that we overcome the polarization, the confusions, and the lies.  

In 1985, Harry Belafonte had a dream to create what became “We Are the World.”   Many people put aside their personal interests and came together and created something significant that made a positive difference in the world.  

I believe we can too.   Wouldn’t that be a great night?!