Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie have decided to pull an Elton John—and by that, I mean that they are recycling an old benefit single just as Elton John pulls out “Candle in the Wind” every time someone dies and simply rewrites the words. Yawn. The bottom line is, it just won’t be the same.
The number one best benefit single ever, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” has been subjected to the remake treatment at least twice that I know of, and the remakes just couldn’t compare (I know, because I have them in my collection). And the fact is, “We Are the World” is a pale imitation of the Band-Aid holiday classic. Let’s face it. England thought of it first, and we tried to steal the concept as if we thought of it. The only reason our single did so much better on the charts in the U.S. is because most people didn’t know most of the bevy of new wave and new romantic artists who sang on the Band-Aid track. I mean, to this day, Bob Geldof gets all the credit for the song when it was actually written by the brilliant Midge Ure, lead vocalist of Ultravox. If you’re saying, “Midge who? Ultra-what?” then you’ve just proven my point.
Here in the U.S. we simply sold our single with ‘brand’ names: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie. These artists were HUGE at the time the song was recorded. And that’s great and smart, because, hey, the bottom line is, we were trying to raise money for a really good cause. But at this point, we need something fresh and new, not that same old sappy song from 25 years ago.
Even so, from what I’ve heard of the lineup of artists on this new version, the selection is top notch. Can’t wait to hear Josh Groban sing the Kenny Rogers line, and who better to handle the Cyndi Lauper part than Celine Dion? Hey, she already covered the Cyndi classic “I Drove All Night,” so why not fill those shoes once more? Since I’m going to have to add this new version to my music collection (because that’s just how I am), my only real hope is that they get at least some of the artists from the original recording to sing in the all-star chorus as a sort of homage.
