Hope For Haiti Songs

Lionel Ritchie has re-released "We Are The World" in support of the Haiti relief charities. Simon Cowell has done an all star re-work of REM's "Everybody Hurts", plus there's all the songs from the Telethon thing.

I am a skeptic of these kinds of things, sure they'll SAY they raise $10 million, or whatever, but do they really? There are still all the normal production costs associated with the making of the song and/ or album and/ or telethon, sure the stars do it for free, but does everyone else? Plus the administrative costs for the charities, I think the general thing with charities is that the cause gets something like $0.08 out of every dollar that gets donated, if you're taking even more money out of the donation for CD production costs, then surely the cause is actually getting more like $0.01 out of every dollar donated?

I watch the news most days and apart from the initial news reports on the Haiti earthquake, I have seen more news reports on the telethon and the other celebrity events being held than there have actually been on what's happening in Haiti. So it's a great publicity boost for the stars more than a means to raise awareness of the situation in Haiti.

Some say that people like Beyonce don't need more publicity, but if the big stars just wanted to help, why don't they all just donate 1% or 2% of their earnings for a year. They could do it quietly, and I am sure some people do, but these are a way to donate and have it recognised in the public eye.

Also Lionel Ritchie was interviewed saying that he was looking to re-release We Are The World, but he didn't think there was a current cause that was worth releasing it for it's 25 year anniversary, so he was excited when he heard about Haiti because it meant that he could re-release the song.

What the hell was Vince Vaughn doing on We Are The World?

hahaha he was excited he could rerelease the song.... yay! Earthquake in Haiti! Very odd.

I'm not sure about how much goes to the actual charity either. I don't think it's as low as you're saying, but it's a fraction of what they earn I'm sure.

It's like that Simpsons episode where Timmy fell down the well, and Krusty did the charity song, and basically ended it with 'whatever's left we just throw down the well...'

We Are The World official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI

My random collection of thoughts while watching it for the first time:

I am not gonna know who half these people are.
Justin Beiber? Why do I know who he is? I have never even heard him sing before.
Jennifer Hudson looks like she wants to slap Nicole Sherzinger. Diva fight!
Who's that first blonde chick?
Is that Mary J Blige?
The Michael Jackson bit seems so forced, and you can hardly hear Janet and she looks like she was videoed sitting on her couch.
Urgh, Miley Cyrus.
Enrique Eglasias!?! Where's he been for the last 10 years?
Wyclef annoys the hell out of me, mainly for all the stuff he's (supposedly) doing to rip off his charity.
Is that Adam Levine?
Pink! Open your eyes.
That second Michael bit fit a bit better.
Celine belted it, she sounded really good.
That guitarist from MJs concerts can actually sing, why did they only let her play guitar?
Would you feel pissed off if you were in it and only got in the video in the group shots and didn't get a solo shot?
Where's Vince Vaughn?
Lil Wayne? WTF?
Can Akon do anything without auto-tune?
God I hate auto-tune. That noise, it's not singing!
There's Vince Vaughn!
Rapping?!?!?! Noooooooooooooooooooooooo .......I understand you need to modernise it, but really? That's just too much.
Snoop!
Celine seems to be just holding her hand up randomly, not actually touching her ear. She looks like she's gonna lick it.
Someone kill Kanye West. Please.

They keep showing pictures of the kids and people in Haiti being all happy and dancing and stuff, shouldn't they show them looking unhappy and being all miserable and depressed? If they're happy, why do they need more money?

Meh, it doesn't do any more or any less for me than the original, well apart from the rap, which is just silly. I guess if they raise more money for a good cause, then it's a good thing, but otherwise, "meh"