I met FriendPaul 14 years ago when he was still the brother-in-law of the manager where I worked. He used to kick the troublesome elements out of our store for us, and explain ice cream. This is my one and only Transportation Friendship, because after I changed stores, I would still run into him on the bus going to my new store; then we returned to school at the same time, so I'd run into him on the commuter train. It was the weirdest thing.
In the beginning I enjoyed talking about music with him, cause he's a musician and that's what he studied. But then he went into history, and a lot of what he specialized in were things like critiquing development aid groups. He felt like a jerk doing it, but honestly somebody has to do it--no free passes (as those people who tried kidnapping Haitian maybe-orphans discovered.)
I think one of his specific projects (his MA?) was studying BBC radio broadcasts during all the 1980s "Ethiopian famine" time. So "We Are the World" and all those charity singles, and how they represented Africa and African people, is something he's thought a lot about.
All this to say... while Optimism Moi and Cynical World-Weary He will never quite see eye to eye, I can understand why he'll hate a song before he's even heard it. Or maybe he just musically hates the song. Or maybe he was just tired of hearing about the making of it, and I'm reading too much into his choice. ;-)
I actually think they did a better job with this Haiti version than the original, and I like it better than the Haiti "Hold On" video (also below.) 1st: Sometimes these charity singles purposely don't show the people singing, I suppose to downplay the importance of the artists. But it just annoys me cause the whole time I'm like "who's singing now? Who's that now??" For heaven's sake, you're trying to leverage star power, so might as well show them.
2nd: The images they have of Haiti aren't pitiful. I like the dancing kids. And they seemed to have filmed some portions on Haiti, though I can't find an article about that. There's one shot in the "Hold On" video where this one guy is looking at the camera like "Can I have one fucking moment alone? Ease!"
3rd: I can't help but think it's (for lack of a better word) "nice" that the song was written and produced by African-Americans (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie & Quincy Jones) with a ton of African-American artists, and the latter is a repeat of that.
4th: There's a lot of debate over the role (if any) of celebrities in aid; but lately I'm starting to feel... if we're going to (rightly I think) criticize them for playing the role of experts and diplomats, need we also criticize the singers when they sing? I mean, that's what they do.
5th: It's gotta be a fun experience for a bunch of diverse artists to get together for one day and chat and sing together. --> "I'm standing there between Tony Bennett and Bizzy," Josh Groban said, referring to the jazz icon and the member of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. "That's not ever really going to happen again." Groban said the small talk between takes was especially riveting. "Everyone is talking about what they're working on next. It's fascinating." <-- LA Times
6th: I like the "let's leave in Michael" bit. I think he would have been pretty heart broken by what Haitians are going through.
7th: Jamie Fox's Ray Charles bit was funny.
8th: Some people are criticizing the lack of star power. ...Are you telling me you still listen to Kim Carnes and Kenny Loggins? Please. And this one music reviewer says he doesn't recognize half the people. I'm going to assume he's a jazz critic.
9th: Finally... I LOVE the rapper's bit in the middle. I was blasé til we hit that part. My prediction: If someone makes an aces remix, built off that section, then we'll have a kickass song on our hands.
(Look, even Snoop is there!)
Now here you go--a song to be sick of.
Side by side with the old version:
The Haiti "Everybody Hurts"
