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We Are The World

Columbia Records

I tried to tell them that I didn’t want to sing. But I’d gladly write a song instead

The iconic fund raising track We Are The World was recorded on 28 January 1985, right after the ceremony of the American Music Awards which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. It was the only guarantee all the participating stars would be in the same city together at the same time. Prince, who not only performed but also won three awards that night was hoped to attend the following session at A&M Studios. Despite calls to cajole him over to the studio, Prince was unwilling to sing on the track. He was only prepared to record a guitar solo later on but the song did not require one. Huey Lewis took the line intended for Prince in the song, following Michael Jackson.

It is highly likely Prince chose not to participate in the recording because it would have been too uncomfortable for him, who preferred even to send his engineer out of the studio while laying down his vocals on his own work, let alone accompanied by 45 other vocalists. However, Sheila E did participate in the main recording of We Are The World albeit in her understanding her invitation was given in the hope to lure Prince with her to the session. Despite the organisers Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie waiting for Prince to turn up at A&M, the session continued and Prince was a no show. In 1986, Sheila E became opening act on Lionel’s The Outrageous Tour, promoting her upcoming self-titled album.

Instead Prince agreed to contribute a song for the accompanying LP. That was song 4 The Tears In Your Eyes, which he wrote on 31 January 1985. The album We Are The World was released on Columbia Records on 23 April 1985. Prince cited he was unable to participate in the main single’s recording due to scheduling commitments for the Purple Rain Tour (he was indeed performing the show in Texas the following day) and had agreed to instead make his own specially written song as his contribution to the appeal. Making it also Prince’s first contribution to a compilation album.

The track was recorded by Prince and The Revolution outside the New Orleans Superdome, the location of tour at that time, on 2 February 1985 during a free day, using a mobile studio set up outside. The video was shot the next day, with just Prince and Wendy Melvoin, and was televised on the night of the LiveAid concert on 13 July 1985. In this video, Prince plays a Taylor 12-string acoustic guitar (the only time he is ever seen playing this instrument) and sporting a new short haired look ready for filming Under The Cherry Moon.

A longer acoustic version of 4 The Tears In Your Eyes was recorded in June 1985 at Studio Instrument Rentals on Sunset Blvd and was released only much later on 13 September 1993 with The Hits / The B-Sides triple album, the same compilation on which Hello also appears. Due to his non-participation at LiveAid, Prince had written Hello in response to the negative press he consequently received: “We’re against hungry children, our record stands tall, but there’s just as much hunger here at home” he sings in Hello. Hello was issued as a non-album track, twice, as the B-side for the UK 12″ for Raspberry Beret on 18 June 1985 and in the US with the 7″ single Pop Life on 10 July 1985.

In January 1985, Bob Geldof berated Prince for not participating in the We Are The World single – “He was not there when he was asked to be. What a jerk.” In October 1985, responding to this criticism during his first ever TV interview and having given a song for the album, Prince was at pains to address the issue and said 4 The Tears In Your Eyes was created as a concession that was “the best thing for both of us… I don’t want there to be any hard feelings.”