# We Are The World **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062 "2003-07-08T19:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jump\_Out\_A\_Tree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jump\_Out\_A\_Tree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jump_Out_A_Tree)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/1 "2003-07-08T19:22:43Z")
Remember the song “We Are The World” ? I’ve listened to it several times now, and I just about have it figured out, but who are all of the solo performers and what lines do they each sing? Lionel Richie starts the song off with “There comes a time, when…”, but who are the rest of the singers with lines of their own? ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/2 "2003-07-08T19:28:44Z")
Let’s see, Willie Nelson, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick, Huey Lewis, Michael Jackson, Harry Bellafonte… and some others. I reckon a “google” would get 'em all. ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/3 "2003-07-08T19:30:01Z")
Cher? was she there? ---
**Author:** ![db4530](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@db4530](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/db4530)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/4 "2003-07-08T19:31:45Z")
[This](http://www.inthe80s.com/weworld.shtml) site should have all the info. you are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/5 "2003-07-08T19:37:06Z")
There was Sting, Krusty, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Diamond Joe Quimby,… Oh, wait, that was _Sending Our Love Down the Well_. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/6 "2003-07-08T19:48:45Z")
Off to Cafe Society. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/7 "2003-07-08T20:55:16Z")
Well, it starts off with Paul Young, followed by Boy George, George Michael, Simon le Bon, Paul “Bono” Hewson…oh wait, that’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by **Band Aid** (which started the whole starving-Africans tribute thing.) Okay, here we go. The singers are David Meniketti, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Kevin DuBrow, Eric Bloom, Paul Shortino, Geoff Tate, Don Dokken…aw crap, that’s “Stars” by **Hear’N Aid** , the “heavy metal” tribute… Hmm, that’s all I got, sorry. Except that I do know that Huey Lewis’s part was supposed to be sung by **Prince** (aka The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As…) except the scrawny little fucktard blew off the sessions and went out to a nightclub instead, where one his bodyguards got into an altercation and beat up a photographer. When I heard of that incident, I _immediately_ sold all of my Prince records, and swore I’d never have anything to do with his music, ever again. Seriously, if it weren’t for that, I might be an R&B fan instead of a heavy metal fan now…well, maybe not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/8 "2003-07-08T21:24:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KGS \* > **Well, it starts off with Paul Young, followed by Boy George, George Michael, Simon le Bon, Paul “Bono” Hewson…oh wait, that’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid (which started the whole starving-Africans tribute thing.)** Ya know, I can’t hear that one without thinking ot myself “wow, what stupid lyrics!” It’s a much better tune that We Are the World, but with lines like “And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas tim…” (Well, duh!) all I can think of are the funny comments that were on Pop Up Video one of the very few times I watched it. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/9 "2003-07-09T12:43:34Z")
I put “We Are the World” and “performers” into Google and got the following webpage: [http://www.inthe80s.com/weworld.shtml](http://www.inthe80s.com/weworld.shtml) You’ll find that you can get the answer to things like this faster by Googling on the proper terms than asking the question here. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/10 "2003-07-09T12:48:38Z")
That all depends on how you google it. If your terms are imprecise, i.e. you have an inkling of what you want, but nothing specific, you’ll get far too many results to make it worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/11 "2003-07-09T13:00:21Z")
Slight hijack: I graduated from college in 1985 and our graduation speaker was then Senator Al D’Amato of New York. He assured us grads that “You ARE the world, you ARE the children”. I always felt that was probably the tackiest graduation speech ever. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/12 "2003-07-09T13:03:17Z")
Then it’s a good idea to get some practice in Googling to learn what the best terms are. Doing internet research is a skill that can be learned, but you have to practice at it. Just asking the question in the SDMV is the equivalent of saying, “I don’t feel like doing any work. Figure out the answer to this question and report back to me. After all, my time is valuable and yours isn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/13 "2003-07-09T13:18:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*Then it’s a good idea to get some practice in Googling to learn what the best terms are. Doing internet research is a skill that can be learned, but you have to practice at it. Just asking the question in the SDMV is the equivalent of saying, “I don’t feel like doing any work. Figure out the answer to this question and report back to me. After all, my time is valuable and yours isn’t.” \*\* For many people, there is no pressing need to practice googling. They don’t do Internet research for a living, perhaps, or they simply don’t have the time or inclination. Additionally, you could be the most proficient googler in the world and still not get the result you desire, because you don’t have enough information to go on from the beginning. Furthermore, we have an entire forum on this board devoted to answering questions. If asking questions really were the equivalent to admitting laziness, then we certainly have plenty of lazy people afoot here. The truth is, googling at best only gives you an answer that may or may not be placed in its proper context. What does the answer mean? Is the website trustworthy? To presume people should not only always use a search engine but know how to do so as experts is folly. There are always going to be circumstances that prevent people from receiving the result for which they are looking when googling. In addition to all of this, another good reason to post questions on here is so that other people who may have had the same question but have not yet taken the time to look up the answer can get the answer. This is a form of eradicating ignorance. I might not have the wherewithal to look up a winning general from the War of 1812, but if someone mentions it on here I’m the better for the knowledge, not the lesser. And finally, it is always important to remember this: Just because someone asks a question doesn’t mean you have to answer it. It also doesn’t mean you have to provide them with a snide comment about how they should learn to search more efficiently and not bother people with their questions. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/14 "2003-07-09T13:28:37Z")
dantheman writes: \> This is a form of eradicating ignorance. The most important thing to learn when you’re eradicating ignorance is that you don’t have to rely on other people to do your research for you. You can learn things for yourself. To always be dependent on having to asking people on a message board for the answer to questions is no better than than to be dependent on some single person you know in real life for the answers to everything. Learning research methods is as important as learning the answers to specific questions. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/15 "2003-07-09T13:44:05Z")
You have it backwards. When you are eradicating ignorance, you’re not relying on anyone. You can do the eradication by yourself. You also make the mistake of assuming that people who post questions are “dependent on having to asking people on a message board for the answer to questions …” I would have to say it’s very unlikely that all of those questions in GQ or here were posed by people who were wholly dependent on this message board for their information; I would certainly go so far as to say that no more than a very small minority of question-posers would fall into this category. Although learning research methods is important, it is not important to every person who has ever wondered something. And that’s one reason this place stands out above others - this is a place one can wonder freely about everyday-life things. It is not necessarily a board on which one should do serious research. To that end, when people do answer questions on here they usually provide a link that provides more information. Could the questioner have found this link on their own? Perhaps. Perhaps they would have found another site entirely that espoused a differing view, one that was not as grounded in fact. That is why we need the context of the site to determine the usefulness of the information on the site. ---
**Author:** ![Jump\_Out\_A\_Tree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jump\_Out\_A\_Tree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jump_Out_A_Tree)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/16 "2003-07-09T21:43:40Z")
Hey it’s me… you know, the one who posted the question? What I really wanted to know is whether the lines “It’s true we’ll make a brighter day… Just you and me.” were both sung by Daryl Hall, or whether the “Just you and me” part was sung by a different performer. I was right about everybody else. thanx ---
**Author:** ![craiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@craiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/craiger)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/17 "2003-07-10T00:11:09Z")
Y’know just about any question can be researched through other sources - Google, library, mom n dad, bus driver, hooker, homeless. I always thought that one of the purposes of this site was for socializing with a community. It’s kind of smug, childish and petty to say “If you don’t know then I’m not gonna tell you” ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/18 "2003-07-10T00:18:59Z")
_…it’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and meeeeee…_ ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/19 "2003-07-10T00:22:30Z")
I wish I could find out for sure, **Jump Out a Tree** , but for some reason I hear Bob Dylan singing that line. Why, I don’t know. It just sounds nasal in my head. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062/20 "2003-07-10T00:27:34Z")
You know, I seem to recall everyone singing those lines together; that was the final, bring-it-on-home line of the chorus, and I pretty clearly recall a whole bunch of voices on that one. (My stepfather had the album, apparently the only piece of music that ever appealed to him besides Air Supply’s greatest hits, and used to play it constantly.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-are-the-world/187062.md?page=2)