Tears Are Not Enough
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| "Tears Are Not Enough" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Northern Lights | ||
| Released | 1985 | |
| Label | Sony/CBS | |
| Writer(s) | Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance and David Foster | |
| Producer(s) | David Foster | |
"Tears Are Not Enough" was a 1985 charity single recorded by a supergroup of Canadian artists, under the name Northern Lights, to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. It was one of a number of such supergroup singles recorded, along with Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in the United Kingdom, and USA for Africa's "We Are the World" in the United States.
The project was organized by Bruce Allen, who brought together a large group of artists to record a song written by Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance and David Foster, with additional contributions by Rachel Paiement, Paul Hyde and Bob Rock. The song was recorded on February 10, 1985 at Manta Sound studios in Toronto, Ontario.
The song was issued as a single by CBS Records in March of that year, and quickly reached Number 1 on the Canadian Top 40 charts. The song was later included on USA For Africa's We Are the World album as well. The song's video also received extensive airplay on MuchMusic.
On December 22, 1985, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired a 90-minute documentary on the song's creation, which was subsequently released on videocassette as well. A CBC reporter, Brian Stewart, had been the first Western journalist to bring the famine in Ethiopia to worldwide attention.
By 1990, the project had raised $3.2 million for famine relief projects in Africa, although 10 per cent of the monies raised were kept to fund Canadian food assistance programs as well.
Contents |
- Gordon Lightfoot
- Burton Cummings
- Anne Murray
- Joni Mitchell
- Dan Hill
- Neil Young
- Bryan Adams
- Corey Hart
- Bruce Cockburn
- Geddy Lee (Rush)
- Mike Reno (Loverboy)
- Mike Reno with Liberty Silver
- Carroll Baker, Ronnie Hawkins and Murray McLauchlan
- Véronique Béliveau, Robert Charlebois and Claude Dubois
- Bryan Adams with Don Gerrard
- Salome Bey, Mark Holmes and Lorraine Segato
- (Alfie) Zappacosta
- Dalbello, Carole Pope and Paul Hyde
Chorus members included:
- Liona Boyd
- John Candy
- Tom Cochrane
- Tommy Hunter
- Kim Mitchell
- Oscar Peterson
- Paul Shaffer
- Jane Siberry
- Sylvia Tyson
- David Foster - Keyboards, Producer
- Jim Vallance - Drums, Engineer, Associate Producer
- Paul Dean - Guitar
- Steven Denroche - French Horn
- Doug Johnson - Synthesizer
- David Sinclair - Acoustic Guitar
- Hayward Parrott - Engineer
- Geoff Turner - Engineer
- Bob Rock - Engineer
- Humberto Gatica - Mixing Engineer
- Joni Mitchell spoke to writer Iain Blair about her Northern Lights For Africa experience. She said: "I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was literally starving when we did the session 'cuz my yoga teacher had sent me to a psychic dietician who, while rubbing her chin and swinging her arm around in a circle, had diagnosed a lot of food allergies. The result was, predictably, that I was hardly allowed to eat anything, so by the time I arrived with an apple and a rice patty, my poor stomach was making all these strange noises. Then we get in the studio, and the engineer says he can't record 'cuz he's picking up some weird rumbling sound coming from my direction. (She laughs). And it was all pretty ironic, considering the subject matter."
- Wayne Gretzky appears briefly at the end of the music video, singing the song with other Campbell Conference All-Stars.
- One of the funniest moments happened during Neil Young's performance. He'd sung his line once or twice already, but Foster still wasn't happy and asked Neil to try again. When Neil asked why, David told him he was out of tune. "That's my style, man", Neil shot back.