1985年7月13日，名为“拯救生命”的大型摇滚乐演唱会在英国伦敦和美国费城同时举行。13日中午，演唱会先在伦敦威姆布莱体育场开幕．72000人出席了开幕式。两小时后，美国费城约翰肯尼迪体育场的音乐会也宣布开始，共有9万人观看了演出。演出一直持续了16个小时，并通过全球通信卫星网络向140多个国家播出了实况，估计总共吸引了近15亿的电视观众。全世界100多位著名摇滚乐歌星参加了这次义演，他们之中有鲍博．迪伦、保尔．麦卡特尼、布鲁斯．斯普林斯廷、蒂娜．特纳、艾尔顿．约翰、迈克．杰克逊……
这次大型摇滚乐义演活动获得了巨大的成功，一共为挣扎在饥荒中的非洲灾民募集到5 000多万美元的巨款。摇滚歌星们完成了靠政治家喋喋不休的演说和国际会议没完没了的讨论所根本完成不了的壮举……
在说「We are the world」之前,我们先来说一说这首歌的历史.
1984年，英国歌手菲尔柯林斯（Phil Collins）看到新闻中非洲依索匹亚等地区的人民，长期处于饥荒与营养不良而死亡，遂在圣诞节之前提出构想，由鲍伯盖朵夫（Bob Geldof）担任召集人，由数十位当红艺人以「Band Aid」为名共同灌录单曲义卖，将义卖所得援助非洲饥民，单曲「他们知道现在是圣诞节吗？」（Do they know it's Christmas ?）于焉诞生。这张单曲推出后，立即在全世界引起回响，光是英美两地就卖出约三百廿万张。
英国歌坛的此项义举，美国歌唱界自然不落人后，由黑人歌手哈利贝拉方提（Harry Belafonte）提出建议，之后获得众大牌歌手的鼎力支持，由昆西琼斯（Quincy Jones）担任制作人，在1985年2月28日，45位当红歌星云集洛杉矶的录音室，灌录了「四海一家」（We are the world）这首义卖单曲。
「四海一家」这首歌是由莱纳李奇和麦可杰克森合写，两人费了四天的时间写曲，莱纳先完成一部分，麦可看到后灵感大发，一夜之间就把全曲写好。之后他们又花了两个半小时作词，为了普遍推广此曲，歌词也力求简单易学。单曲完成后推出问世，受到的欢迎难以想象，短短数周便卖出八百万张单曲，更胜英国艺人的「他们知道现在是圣诞节吗？」。
英美歌坛有了这两次成功的经验，认为可以为非洲灾民做的更多，于是由英国的鲍伯盖朵夫继续担任召集人，筹划英美两地歌星马拉松式的援非慈善演唱会，演唱会定名为「Live Aid」，于7月13日分别在英国伦敦的温布利体育馆和美国费城的肯尼迪体育馆举行，两边接力进行长达十小时的义演。这场演唱会除了吸引爆满的现场观众，还经由七个人造卫星，传送到全球一百六十几个国家。负责穿针引线的鲍伯盖朵夫还因此获得诺贝尔和平奖的提名。
平心而论，「四海一家」确实是首出色的制作，数十位大牌歌手每人分唱几句歌词，要能充分发挥个人特色，又要兼顾歌曲的流畅性，确实不容易。歌曲中反复吟唱的第三段内容，给人留下了极为深刻的印象。这一段其实是乐曲第一乐段的副歌。第一乐段由三段歌词构成，在歌曲的结尾处，做为副歌的第三段歌词被反复重唱了六遍，使歌的主题得到了强化。由于在演唱中采用合唱，轮唱等形式，不但不使人觉得呆板乏味，反而有一种意境得到升华、灵魂得以净化的感觉，给人一种意犹未尽之感。
| 注：文字及链接均引自网络
| | Autumn 04-10-2006 |
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There comes a time when we heed a certain call (Lionel Richie)
When the world must come together as one (Lionel Richie); Stevie Wonder)
There are people dying (Stevie Wonder)
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life (Paul Simon)
The greatest gift of all (Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers)
We can't go on pretending day by day (Kenny Rogers)
That someone, somehow will soon make a change (James Ingram)
We're all a part of God"s great big family (Tina Turner)
And the truth (Billy Joel)
You know love is all we need (Tina Turner & Billy Joel)
We are the world, we are the children (Chorus)
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving (Michael Jackson)
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives (Diana Ross)
It's true we"ll make a better day just you and me (Michael Jackson & Diana Ross)
Well, send'em you your heart so they know that someone cares (Dionne Warwick)
And their lives will be stronger and free (Dionne Warwick & Willie Nelson)
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread (Willie Nelson)
And so we all must lend a helping hand (Al Jurreau)
We are the world, we are the children (Bruce Springsteen)(Chorus)
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving (Kenny Logins)
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives (Steve Perry)
It's true we"ll make a better day just you and me (Daryl Hall)
When you're down and out there seems no hope at all (Michael Jackson)
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall (Huey Lewis)
Well, well, well, let's realize that a change can only come (Cyndi Lauper)
When we (Kim Carnes)
stand together as one (Kim Carnes & Cyndi Lauper & Huey Lewis)
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world，we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we"ll make a better day just you and me
We are the world（We are the world），we are the children（we are the children）
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving（so let's start giving）
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world（We are the world），we are the children（we are the children）
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving（so let's start giving）
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world，we are the children（are the children）
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving（so let's start giving）
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me
We are the world（We are the world），we are the children |
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