Drought and Civil War are a bad combination. The problem is, people just don't get enough to eat! It got really bad over there in 1983 and 1984, but nobody seemed to notice. I mean, I didn't hear about it at all till December of 1984, when a bunch of musicians from England came out with that song "Do They Know It's Christmas". Pretty cool song, actually. It had that Christmassy sound to it, and a good arrangement, and the performances were first rate.
That's around when the pictures started showing up on TV. Pretty disgusting, really, with swollen, dying kids, and their distraught moms, and all the flies. It really got to you, if you thought about it.
Well, apparently some American musicians did think about it, because before we knew what hit us, the airways were filled with their famine relief song, "We Are The World", by USA For Africa. You remember, that was the group with Michael Jackson and Dan Ackroyd in it.
One evening in May of '85, the four of us were sitting around thinking, "Why not us?" Nobody could think of a good reason, so out came the guitars, and the beers (Bill W notes that perhaps the beers were already out!), and an hour later "Feed A Hungry Mouth" was written. We recorded the basic tracks a few nights later, then started contacting all the local Garage Band musicians we could think of. The response was overwhelming!
The GBA Chorus was recorded in Bogota, NJ on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Twice - that's how you get 25 people to sound like 50. The 'wo-oh-oh-oh's erupted spontaneously during the take, and so did that incredible gospelly soprano scream starting at 5:11. Check it out! The solo vocals were done in Alpine, NJ the next weekend, then the guitar solos, and by around the 10th of June, it was finished!
Well, we sold a bunch of tapes, and Saturday July 6 was
GBA Night, a benefit concert hosted by Netto of the
old Uncle Floyd Show. But that's another story.
 |
Title: Feed a Hungry Mouth
Artist: Garage Bands for Africa (credits) Authors: Mike Jodry, Bill Kelly, Jeff Wangerin, Bill Willis (c) 1985 by the authors. All rights reserved. You may download the file, listen to it as often as you want, play it for your friends, make safety copies, and convert it to other audio formats (CD and cassette, for example) for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may not distribute the file by any means, including by means of a direct web link to the file's URL thereby evading this notice, but you may link to this page freely. You may not distribute the embodied sound recording, in whole or in part, in any format. You may not represent the music, nor the lyrics, nor the original sound recording, in whole or in part, as your own original work. You may not incorporate samples of the sound recording in an original work without the express written consent of the authors. I understand and agree to these terms.
Give me the file!
|
The Burnt Vegetables Free Music and Art Portal A GBA Band with roots in the Tenafly, NJ of the 1970's, they recently reunited (and it feels so good). Great looking site, with free BV MP3s from their 1998 reunion concert.
GBA Member Web Links GBA credits, with links to web pages of GBA members. These pages have musical or artistic content, not necessarily artistic merit.
Add a GBA Member or Band URL If you were involved with GBA, send in your URL and we'll add a link to it.