经典英文歌曲鉴赏 - We Are The World

We Are The World

We Are The World is a song by the supergroup USA for Africa which featured some of the most famous artists in the music industry at the time. The song was released on March 7, 1985, as the only single from the album of the same name. A worldwide commercial success, it topped music charts throughout the world and became the

fastest-selling American pop single in history.Besides, it was awarded numerous honors—including three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People's Choice Award.

The general purpose of the song was to rise people’s awareness of aiding the African country Ethiopia, which was affected by famine at that time. As we all know, back in 1983, the famine affected the inhabitants

of Ethiopia. The worst famine to hit the country in a century, in northern Ethiopia it led to more than 400,000 deaths due to the poor living condition and extremely limited medical service.

This song is one of my favorite for following reasons.

Firstly, the song features a variety of vocals and its lyrics are meaningful. The producer successfully united many singers regardless of their music styles, thus creating an interesting mixture of different vocals. Although some of the singers are completely unfamiliar for me, I can still recognize Michael Jackson, Diana Ross (one of the original members of The Supremes), Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Lionel Richie. The

inclusion of these superstars helped a lot in popularizing the song. When it comes to the lyrics, they are highly emotional. It is sung from a first person viewpoint, allowing the audience to "internalize" the message by singing the word we together. I believed this is an appeal to human compassion.The first lines in the song's repetitive chorus proclaim, "We are the world, we are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving", which is unforgettable.

Secondly, I enjoy the song because of Michael Jackson’s involvement in both the lyrics and the vocal. Though I’m not a real fan of him, I still think some of his works are outstanding. Michael Jackson’s sister, La Toya Jackson, once stated that it was Michael who actually wrote most of the lyrics for the song. Regardless of its accuracy, we can interfere that Michael Jackson himself did put many efforts into this song.

Thirdly, the song is historically and politically important. For a long period of time, poverty has been plaguing Africa, leading to many other problems such as the wide-spread of diseases and significantly lower living standard. Sometimes, such problem turns into a crisis. Although We Are The World isn’t the first attempt to arise people’s attention toward Africa (a similar UK-based project was created earlier), the single archived worldwide success in raising awareness and financial relief for the victims of the Ethiopian famine.According to some statics, one year after the release of We Are the World, $44.5 million had been raised for