The Greatest Night in Pop: The Making of 'We Are the World'

There's almost nothing as satisfying on the screen as seeing a documentary that shows you how something else you saw and on the screen and loved was put together.  The Greatest Night in Pop does that with the 1985 video and recording, "We Are the World".  In part because our family was just getting started, in part because we cared about feeding people in need of food, in part because we were fans of so many of the artists who made that music, the video has been among my wife's and my favorites since the day we first saw it in March 1985.  It still brings tears to our eyes.  As did The Greatest Night in Pop documentary, many times.

As we were watching it on Netflix the other night, I realized what an important kind of new video and recording the 1985 performance brought into being.  Not a concert of great artists, but a single song performed by great artists.  The performance of George Harrison's "As My Guitar Gently Weeps" in the 2004 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductions with Tom Petty, Stevie Winwood, and Prince (who delivers the best guitar playing I've ever seen) is even better than the Beatles' original recording, and owes a debt of gratitude to the way "We Are the World" brought together more than two score of artists nearly two decades earlier to make such eternal music.

Prince didn't make it to that recording, though he was very much desired, and The Greatest Night in Pop tells us at least a part of that story.  It also shows how Dylan, not really getting how he fit in the recording, sung his part perfectly after Stevie Wonder did a good mimic of Dylan singing like Dylan had in his heyday in the 1960s.  Cyndi Lauper, understandably nervous in the company of such greats, belts out a great line and ends with a "yeah, yeah, yeah".  She wonders if that was ok and is assured by Quincy Jones that it was just right.  The key of the song was of course right for some of the singers but not for everyone.  Bruce Springsteen, coming to the recording session with a hoarse voice just after a tour, sounds like he has "broken glass" in his throat, as someone remarks.  But it's just right for the subject of the recording.  Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie, wants to add a "sha-la-la" to the chorus.  Smokey Robinson tells us in current time, when the documentary was recorded, how he had lots of experience working with Michael Jackson at Motown, and we see him walk up to Jackson in the "We Are the World" recording studio and talk him out of the "sha-la-la".  Diana Ross says how much she loved Daryl Hall's singing.  Who knew?

The Greatest Night in Pop is a treasure-trove of such nuggets of musical history.  I expect my wife and I will be watching it a lot more than once.

Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles 9 of X: Covers

Rob Sheffield sticks in an "Instrumental Break" of a chapter about a third-way through his exceptional Dreaming The Beatles, about covers of Beatles songs and other recordings that for one reason or another bear strong influences of Beatles music.

Confession: I don't like covers.  I can't think of even a single example in which I liked a cover of a recording better than an original that I loved or even liked a lot.  (Ok, I guess one example - Carl Carlton's 1974 version of "Everlasting Love" was better than Robert Knight's 1967 original, but that's just one lone example.) This is what I've called the "first love syndrome" at work - when there is more than one version of a creative work afoot, we like best what we came to love first.

If you think this is too obvious to call a syndrome, consider this: I once ran into someone at a science fiction convention who told me his favorite Star Trek narrative on screen was the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, so generally disliked that it's been called Star Trek: The Motion Sickness.  We had this conversation well after Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation had made their impact.  I asked this guy if he had seen them.  He said yes, but he didn't think that either measured up to the movie.  He then offered that his first Star Trek experience had been that first motion picture.  Q.E.D the first love syndrome.

So, though I guess it would be instructive to speak to someone who heard a cover of a Beatles recording prior to the Beatles recording, for me the question is always how much did the cover ruin an original that I loved.   Whether it's Tony Bennett or a garage band, I'd always rather hear the Beatles.   When Sirius XM's Beatles channel plays another artist's interpretation of the Beatles, I always take that time to catch up with some Trump atrocity on MSNBC.

But Beatles influences on other artists are a lot different than covers, and Sheffield's mention of Dylan's "I Want You" and "Just Like A Woman" as influenced by Rubber Soul is one of the delights of this chapter and the book as a whole.  I also watch Prince's beyond breathtaking guitar work on "As My Guitar Gently Weeps" in the Hall of Fame George tribute concert at least once a month on YouTube - it's far and away the best guitar solo I've ever seen and heard -- and I was glad to see Sheffield discuss that, too.

Actual collaboration is another facet of this chapter, and I always found Lennon's work with David Bowie so noteworthy that I actually wrote a whole novelette in which that figures  - Ian, Isaac, and John.

And I'll be back with more pretty soon.

See also Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles 1 of X: The Love Affair ... 2 of X: The Heroine with a Thousand Faces ... 3 of X: Dear Beatles ... 4 of X: Paradox George ... 5 of X: The Power of Yeah ... 6 of X: The Case for Ringo ... 7 of X: Anatomy of a Ride ... 8 of X: Rubber Soul on July 4 ... 10 of X: I. A. Richards ... 11 of X: Underrated Revolver ... 12 of X: Sgt. Pepper ... 13 of X: Beatles vs. Stones ... 14 of X: Unending 60s ... 15 of X: Voting for McCartney ... 16 of X: "I'm A Loser" ... 17 of X: The Split ... 18 of X: "Absolute Elsewhere" ... 19 of X: (Unnecessary but Brilliant) Defense of McCartney ... 20 of X: "All Things Must Pass" ... 21 of X: Resistance ... 22: The 70s Till the End ... 23: Near the Science Fiction Shop ... 24 of 24: The Last Two

And here's "It's Real Life" -- free alternate history short story about The Beatles, made into a radio play and audiobook and winner of The Mary Shelley Award 2023

George's Guitar Gently Weeps Through the Ages

Apropos my Traveling Willbury's kick, I've just been listening to George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," performed when Harrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

There must be more than a dozen versions of this great song on YouTube, starting with George Harrison and Eric Clapton's performance at the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh and progressing through the years to the two concerts that, sadly, outlived George. One is the 2002 Memorial Concert in which Lynne also plays, but Clapton is featured, and the other the 2004 performance, which is my favorite.

Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne share the lead, and do a splendid job. Even more incredible is the two+ minute guitar solo at the end by Prince - about the finest guitar work I've ever heard.

Here it is ... rest in peace, George. Your music will live forever.