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TL;DR:

  • USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” was No. 1 a hit for several weeks.
  • A Madonna song by veteran songwriters overshadowed it.
  • Madonna’s song had to be completely rerecorded.

USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” became one of the most famous charity songs in the history of music. Subsequently, a Madonna song knocked it from the top spot. The co-writer of Madonna’s song wasn’t a big fan of her take on it at first.

USA for Africa’s ‘We Are the World’ became overshadowed by a slow Madonna song

USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” was huge in the United States. The tune topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, staying on the chart for 18 weeks in total. It became the supergroup’s only hit.

According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Madonna’s “Crazy for You” knocked USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” from the No. 1 position. That record was Madonna’s first ballad to become a big hit. That single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for one week, staying on the chart for 21 weeks altogether. It appeared on the compilation album The Immaculate Collection. That record reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 148 weeks.

The writers of ‘Crazy for you’ designed the song for a movie scene

Veteran songwriters Jon Lind and John Bettis wrote “Crazy for You” together. In The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Bettis discussed the origin of the track. They wrote it for the forgotten sports movie Vision Quest. “We were noodling around and ‘Crazy for You’ was something that Jon was singing over that section of the song,” he said. “It was really descriptive of the scene in the film.”

“After that, I was out on vacation out in the desert and [Warner Bros exec Joel Sill] called and said Phil Ramone was in love with the song and wanted to cut it on Madonna,” he said. “‘Borderline’ was out at that time and I said, ‘Excuse me? This is for Madonna? Really? Can she sing a song like this?’ Jon and I were surprised at the choice of artist at the time, if you want to know the truth.”

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John Bettis Liked Madonna’s version of the song after she rerecorded it

Bettis didn’t think Madonna was handling the song properly. “We went to one of the sessions, and to be honest, that particular session did not go all that well,” Bettis admitted. “Jon and I were depressed about the way the song had come out. We heard nothing else about it and we were a little nervous that the song was going to be dropped from the picture.”

John “Jellybean” Benitez, Madonna’s regular producer during her early years, rerecorded the song live with the Material Girl. Benitez was nervous because he had never done a live session. Bettis liked the final version of the track.

“Crazy for You” is a great song and it finally got rid of “We Are the World.”

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