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Trivia / We Are the World

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  • Follow the Leader: While "Do They Know It's Christmas?" preceded it, this was the song that popularized the Charity Motivation Song genre in the U.S., although the former is still the better-known song in the UK. Songs that came in its immediate wake included:
    • "Stars", performed by Hear 'n Aid, a group of Heavy Metal performers organized by Ronnie James Dio. This was also for African famine relief.
    • “Tears Are Not Enough” by Northern Lights, Canada’s answer to USA for Africa, a veritable who’s-who of Canadian artists of the time. Names include Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Bryan Adams, Neil Young, Mike Reno, Joni Mitchell, Burton Cummings and Geddy Lee.
    • "That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick and Friends (Elton John, Stevie Wonder, etc.), a cover of a song from Night Shift that served as one of the first charity projects addressing the AIDS epidemic.
    • "Hands Across America" was the theme song of a USA for Africa follow-up project that focused on helping the homeless in the United States.
    • "Tomorrow Will Be Better" is pretty much the Sinosphere's answer to both the West's aforementioned charity songs for Africa, sung in Mandarin Chinese, featuring the most popular singers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore at the time.
    • "A New and Better Way—The People's Anthem" is another Asian example, but in a smaller scale which featured 15 of the Philippines' most popular artists. While it mostly served as a commemoration of the People Power Revolution instead of a charity single to aid Africa, the song's format is nevertheless inspired by them.
  • Referenced by...: Has its own page.
  • Wag the Director: The reuse of Michael Jackson’s solo parts from the original for the 2010 remake, spliced together with his sister, were explicitly requested by their mother as a tribute to him. Lionel Richie agreed, noting that Jackson’s posthumous quasi-Role Reprise lent a sense of completion to the production.
  • What Could Have Been: Several other artists either were to be involved or were considered for participation the song:
    • Prince was to be involved (and was to sing Huey Lewis' part of "But if you just believe there's no way we can fall"), but a dispute between his bodyguards and the paparazzi delayed and ultimately ended his involvement. The latter's involvement was literally at the last moment. Prince ultimately contributed a new studio track ("4 the Tears in Your Eyes") to the We Are the World album.
    • When the organizers phoned up David Lee Roth's manager to inquire about his potential involvement, he hung up on them.
    • John Denver was briefly considered, but was soon vetoed for unknown reasons.
    • Barbra Streisand was asked to participate in the song, but she declined. She went on to regret her decision and agreed to participate in the following year's "Hands Across America". She later also participated in the 2010 remake.

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