While reflecting on recording his 1985 charity single ‘We Are The World’, Billy Joel recalled Stevie Wonder trying to teach Bob Dylan how to sing!
Joel spoke about these recording sessions in a recent appearance on the Howard Stern Show.
Alongside Wonder and Dylan, ‘We Are The World’ also featured artists Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross among others.
The charity single also topped the charts worldwide, becoming the ninth best selling single of all time.
“this could be fun”
Speaking to Stern, Billy Joel spoke about how the recording sessions for this charity single came about, and how he became involved in this project.
The singer who recent released his first single in 20 years earlier this month, revealed that he was scheduled to be in LA that week, and thought “What the hell, this could be fun”.
According to Joel, himself and the rest of the artists had no idea what they were recording for.
Joel explains, “I’m standing next to Cyndi Lauper. Now we’re all being filmed while this is going on. And she’s leaning over to me, going ‘This song sounds like a Pepsi commercial'”.
He continued, “Funny things were happening. Bob Dylan was shy to sing on his own. So Stevie Wonder comes out and is telling Bob how to sing like Bob Dylan. ‘We are the world. We are the children.’ And Dylan’s like, ‘Okay, I think I can do that.’”
“Stevie Wonder teaching Bob Dylan to sing like Bob Dylan was a moment”.
Joel – ‘We Are The World’
Joel also reminisced about some escapades with Bruce Springsteen.
“When everybody’s singing together, sometimes Bruce and I are in the chorus and sometimes we’re not because there was a big pile of deli sandwiches on the other side of the room and we kept going over to get a beer and a sandwich”.
‘We Are The World’ also saw Joel collaborate with Bett Midler, Belafonte, The Pointer Sisters, Waylon Jennings, Jackson 5, Bob Geldof, and Smokey Robinson.
It is also the subject of a new documentary called ‘The Greatest Night In Pop’, which is exclusively available on Netflix now.
Having released his first new single in 20 years with ‘Turn The Lights Back On’, Billy Joel explained that it has taken him until now to write new music, as it “wasn’t fun anymore”.
