sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (04/09/85)
Someone was looking for a list of performers in the Northern Lights
single for Ethiopia, "Tears are Not Enough". As a great supporter of
the Canadian music industry I was surprised to hear that the only one he could
identify was Canada's songbird. (Of course I'm talking about Geddy Lee.)
Well, I can do a little better than that but there are still some holes in this
list that perhaps others can fill. And I wouldn't be surprised if
there are some errors here already.
First verse:
Gordon Lightfoot
Burton Cummings
Anne Murray
Joni Mitchell
Dan Hill
Neil Young (Somehow our EEEEEEHHHHNocence is lost...)
(I think someone forgot to tell him they were going
to film the song. What a strange looking person he is.)
Bryan Adams
Mike Reno (Loverboy) + some woman I can't identify
Second verse:
Carol Baker, Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins + a third guy
Corey Hart
3 French Canadian singers, one of whom is probably Robert Charlebois,
one of whom might be "Rachel Paiement" who is credited with
writing the French lyrics. Also one looks like Guy Lafleur.
Oh yeah, the 3rd might be "Claude Dubois" who signed the
single cover. My apologies for not being up on my
Quebecois stars...
Bruce Cockburn (on the video; in the song it's a group of voices)
Geddy Lee
After this I really start to get confused but at various times in the video
after the 2nd verse, the following have lines:
Carol Pope (Rough Trade), Lorraine Segato (Parachute Club)
"The Guy from Platinum Blonde", some woman with extremely strange hair
but apparently a nice voice, and others who are obscure
even by Canadian standards.
In the crowd singing you may be able to pick out Paul Shaffer (Late Night
with David Letterman); Oscar Peterson; some Second City TV
performers including John Candy, Robin Duke and Eugene Levy;
Tommy Hunter ("Canada's Country Gentleman"), Liona Boyd, Salome Bey, and
many more whose autographs on the cover I can't decipher.
And my favourite part is the appearance by the complete NHL All Star Team.
This bit was organized by Wayne Gretzky - initial plans were to have the
team sing a complete verse but there was some problem with the tape
and they only appear for about 5 seconds. This is really unfortunate
as I think it is one of the special things about the video.
For any of you who are still reading, I have some questions...
1) Is "Tears are Not Enough" getting any airplay in the U.S.? It is played
about as often as "We Are the World" in Canada. Frankly I think it's
a much better song but obviously the performers aren't as big.
2) Who would you add to make the ultimate Ethiopian fund-raising song? Where,
for instance, was John Denver? Sinatra? Pavarotti?
And a couple of final thoughts. First of all, if you like any of these
songs, DO go out and buy the album or single. Don't just sing along
on the radio or sit back and think what a great idea all this is.
I felt pretty good when I bought "Tears are Not Enough" even though my
contribution from this purchase was pretty insignificant. And
secondly, read the article in LIFE magazine on the making of "We Are
the World". Lots of great stories, potential trivia questions (i.e.
Who didn't show up and had his line given to Huey Lewis? (Ans: Prince))
and a great little closing bit about Steve Perry, a singer I
had never particularly liked but one for whom I now have a lot of respect.
Steve Hayman watmath!watcgl!sahayman