We Are The World '75

[chrislc]

Okay so what if We Are The World had happened ten years earlier? Who would have been included and excluded and who would have taken the places of those excluded?

How about -

• Lionel Richie - no - Harry Chapin - and we should get Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby in here somewhere near the end with Bob and Ray (and Frank!) - I had some Beatles and Elton and Helen on the list then remembered it's not Anglo Saxons for Africa- yikes imagine We Are the World '65 ouch I guess it would be all Motown plus Dean Martin and Roy Orbison)
• Stevie Wonder - yes
• Paul Simon - yes
• Kenny Rogers - no - John Denver
• James Ingram - no - Marvin Gaye
• Tina Turner - no she wasn't relevant at the time so let's go with Barbra Streisand
• Billy Joel - no - Neil Diamond
• Michael Jackson - tough call - maybe the whole Jackson 5? but only in the chorus - so Karen Carpenter gets this key role
Diana Ross - yes
• Dionne Warwick - yes
• Willie Nelson - no - Phillipe Wynne (see what i did there?)
• Al Jarreau - no - Al Green
• Bruce Springsteen - no - Teddy Pendergrass
• Kenny Loggins - no - Danny Hutton EDIT Chuck Negron
• Steve Perry - no - Russell Thompkins Jr.
• Daryl Hall - no - Don Henley
• Huey Lewis - no - Glenn Frey
• Cyndi Lauper - no - Gladys Knight
• Kim Carnes - no - Carly Simon
• Bob Dylan - yes
• Ray Charles - yes
Chorus (alphabetically)
• Dan Aykroyd - no but maybe a few years later (Belushi too) - so Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell (maybe it would be recorded right after a Dean Martin Roast instead of the Grammys)
• Harry Belafonte - yes
• Lindsey Buckingham - no - Don Rickles
• Mario Cipollina - no - Orson Welles
• Johnny Colla - no - Red Buttons
• Sheila E. - no - Ruth Buzzi
• Bob Geldof - no - Casey KuhSEMM as Adolf Hitler
• Bill Gibson - who
• Chris Hayes - who
• Sean Hopper - who
• Jackie Jackson - ah there they are
• La Toya Jackson - no - Angie Dickinson
• Marlon Jackson - see above
• Randy Jackson - see above
• Tito Jackson - see above
• Waylon Jennings - no - Telly Savalas
• Bette Midler - maybe
• John Oates - no - Nipsey Russell
• Jeffrey Osborne - no - Foster Brooks (on the wings of luh th wings of luhhhhh wings of luhhhhhv)
• The Pointer Sisters - probably not - The Pips
• Smokey Robinson - yes

[burcjm]

Marvin Gaye, Karen Carpenter, Don Henley & Glenn Frey of the Eagles probably would have been in it. Though in the case of the last two they were still relevant in 1985; is there a particular reason why they didn't do it?

[chrislc]

Nov 3, 2019 19:31:07 GMT -5 burcjm said:

Marvin Gaye, Karen Carpenter, Don Henley & Glenn Frey of the Eagles probably would have been in it. Though in the case of the last two they were still relevant in 1985; is there a particular reason why they didn't do it?

Good question.

And OMG Karen Carpenter! Absolutely. Maybe she would do Michael's part. Imagine it.

[mga707]

Danny Hutton/Chuck Negron/Cory Wells--the vocal talent of 3 dog night--yes!

[chrislc]

Nov 3, 2019 20:00:07 GMT -5 mga707 said:

Danny Hutton/Chuck Negron/Cory Wells--the vocal talent of 3 dog night--yes!

Yes they would be great.

Now who could do Cyndi's thing? It was one of the high points if not THE high point of the song.

Oh I got it! See Above.

[burcjm]

Neil Diamond was more popular in 1975 than 1985 so he probably would have had a part.

[pb]

Nov 3, 2019 19:17:08 GMT -5 chrislc said:

• Bill Gibson - who
• Chris Hayes - who
• Sean Hopper - who

Guys from Huey Lewis and the News I think? Replace them with Three Dog Night's backing band I guess, or the rest of the Spinners or the Stylistics.

[Dale Latimer]

Ingenious as all get-out, chrislc!

And Casey would sure-as-heck fit right in!!

dL

[chrislc]

Nov 4, 2019 9:30:17 GMT -5 Dale Latimer said:

Ingenious as all get-out, chrislc!

And Casey would sure-as-heck fit right in!!

dL

Wow thank you. I had to copy that so it would show up twice.


One thought has been nagging at me. The idea of Tony Orlando starting it in Lionel Richie's role, and maybe having Elvis down there with Bob and Ray (and maybe Dean and Frank and hey why not Sammy too - and then Bing to close it out).

Also I think Barbra might threaten to walk out if she knew Karen would have such a major role. So those two might have to switch places.

Or - maybe the whole thing is recorded after a Dean Martin Roast of Michael Jackson and he would retain his same role. Then maybe Karen starts the whole thing - but then what to do with Tony?

Also I am not sure if Danny Hutton is the right guy from Three Dog Night. I think it should be the Liar/Joy to The World/Play Something Sweet guy. Were they the same guy? I don't know much (anything) about "who sang what" in Three Dog Night.

[Hervard]

You forgot Diana Ross after Michael Jackson. Of course, she would get yes.

[chrislc]

Nov 4, 2019 14:51:21 GMT -5 Hervard said:

You forgot Diana Ross after Michael Jackson. Of course, she would get yes.

Yikes so much for Wikipedia. I wonder who else they forgot.

Oops no - my bad - I must have deleted her during one of my many edits. She would stay on of course.

[jlthorpe]

Since Aykroyd was there to represent Hollywood, and was an actor with some singing experience, I feel there's only one man who could fill that role - William Shatner.

[burcjm]

How about the big name female soloists of the early 70s: Carol King, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell?

[chrislc]

Nov 4, 2019 18:01:53 GMT -5 burcjm said:

How about the big name female soloists of the early 70s: Carol King, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell?

I thought of Linda - but then realized that in January 75 her legacy was only a couple of hits and they were both several years before that. Of course she was then bulleting with a huge one but it wasn't her legacy yet.

I thought of Carole and Joni but, being Hollywood, there weren't many female roles on We Are The World, so I didn't know where to put them.

[slf]

This is a fascinating thread.  One performer nobody has thought of, but who'd fit right in with the cause, is the late Harry Chapin.  In early '75, he was just coming off the success of his charttopper "Cats In The Cradle", plus he had the classic "Taxi" as a hit two years earlier.  More importantly, eliminating world hunger was a charitable cause very near and dear to his heart.  During his career, he performed MANY concerts solely for charity and raised thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars towards feeding the hungry.
In fact, I could easily picture him organizing this whole "We Are The World '75".