Скачать или смотреть "We Are the World" at 40: Why Bob Dylan Struggled in the Star-Studded Session

Forty years ago, “We Are the World,” by the Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie-helmed supergroup USA for Africa, was released to the public.

Since then, the star-studded charity single has raised an astonishing $80 million for Ethiopian famine relief and other humanitarian causes. But it also gave the world something else: a truly priceless glimpse of Bob Dylan looking miserable.

The highly meme'd image has spread far and wide across the internet, representing a very specific kind of existential dread. Its universal appeal comes from the fact that we’ve all been “We Are the World”-era Bob at one time or another — out of our element, insecure, confused, exhausted, woefully unclear what’s expected of us, and unsure when it’s all gonna end. It’s a rare moment of relatability for a man not exactly known for being relatable.

Richie, who co-wrote the song, cleared up any misconceptions about Dylan’s state of mind in the studio during a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. While promoting Netflix’s documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, he explained why the historic 1985 session, packed with more than 40 of music’s biggest luminaries — Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, to name but a few — was not the greatest night for Dylan. “Poor Bob was having a nervous breakdown,” Richie admitted.


But still, Dylan didn’t always play well with others. According to legend, the organizers of 1969’s Woodstock festival specifically sought a venue near Dylan’s home in Woodstock, New York, with the aim of coaxing him out of his self-imposed retirement as a special guest performer. This failed to occur. Instead, Dylan staged a solo comeback concert two weeks later in England.

But the Dylan of the ‘60s was a very different man from the Dylan of the ‘80s. He was in the midst of a relatively fallow period and, simply put, he wanted a hit. He’d hired producer du jour Arthur Baker, known for his creative collaboration with the dance-y synth-pop group New Order, to work on his 1985 record Empire Burlesque, and even consented to making music videos for MTV. Aligning himself with the Top 40 vanguard at the “We Are the World” session seemed like more than a way to lend a hand for a good cause. It was also a good career move.

Other stars got perhaps a bit too comfortable with Dylan. Footage captured by documentary cameras reveals Dylan backed into a corner by Willie Nelson and Huey Lewis, who speak at him for an interminable period about their golf game. “You are the ball — it’s really true,” marvels Lewis. “Some shots man, you can just see them. They happen for you. And some, in the middle of the swing, you know it won’t work.” When pressed, Dylan dismissively replied that he didn’t play golf because “I’ve heard you had to study it.”

Jones deduces the problem right away, and orders the studio cleared, save for Stevie Wonder and Richie, who also sympathizes. “If you’re thrown in a room with a bunch of singers, you have a tendency to get psyched out and you want to sound like them,” Richie explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “But everyone that we chose as the lead vocalists, they were not singers, they were stylists. We only had half a line and, in certain cases, one line to sing. We had to make sure that whoever was singing, your voice was identifiable right away. Now, Bob Dylan has an identifiable voice instantly. But he was trying to sing it another way. We kept saying, 'No, just sing it like Bob Dylan.' "

Wonder was enlisted as, in Breskin’s description, "the secret agent to make him comfortable." Seated at the piano, he launches into a pitch-perfect Bob Dylan impression to demonstrate what they’re looking for. The approach has the added bonus of breaking the tension, as Dylan recognizes the inherent absurdity of impersonating his impersonator. Richie and Jones rally to cheer him on. “Just do your thing, man,” says Q. “That’s something nobody can do better than you.”

Dylan approaches the mic and tries again. The result is definitely better, but Dylan is not impressed. “Ugh, I can do that better,” he says. Jones, with his eye on the clock, quickly objects. “That’s fantastic!” Dylan isn’t buying it. “I don’t think that’s any good at all. You can erase that.”

A few takes later, they have it. Dylan isn’t satisfied and asks to do it again. “I’m telling you, we got it!” insists Jones. The producer approaches the mic to pull Dylan in for a bear hug. “Alright, if you say so…” Dylan says with charming self-deprecation. It’s a touching moment, and for possibly the first time that night, Dylan genuinely smiles.