Lionel Richie Reveals Song That Gave Bob Dylan a ‘Nervous Breakdown’

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lionel Richie recalled the time Bob Dylan suffered a “nervous breakdown” while recording the star-studded 1985 track “We Are the World.” The single, which sold 20 million copies to benefit famine relief and united 46 disparate musical talents, was written by Richie and Michael Jackson and recorded during a marathon all-night session. An upcoming documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, tells the story of that fateful evening.

Joining Richie and Jackson were dynamos like Willie Nelson, Daryl Hall, Bruce Springsteen, and, of course, Bob Dylan. When the outlet noted that Dylan looked “so uncomfortable” in footage of the session featured in the documentary, Richie confirmed this was absolutely true. According to the “Hello” singer, Dylan was overthinking his process and trying to make his voice sound more mainstream to fit his contemporaries.

“Poor Bob was having a nervous breakdown,” Richie admitted. “He’s trying to sing it. And we said, ‘No, we don’t want you to sing it, just do it like Bob Dylan.’ If you’re thrown in a room with a bunch of singers, you have a tendency to get psyched out, that you want to sound like them. But everyone that we chose as the lead vocalists, they were not singers, they were stylists.”

Richie and the song’s producer, Quincy Jones, had chosen Dylan specifically for his unique vocals. They had a difficult time convincing the artist of that, however.

“We only had half a line, and, in certain cases, one line to sing,” Richie explained. “We had to make sure that whoever was singing, your voice was identifiable right away. Now, Bob Dylan has an identifiable voice instantly. But he was trying to sing it another way. We kept saying, ‘No, just sing it like Bob Dylan.’ But did you see that look on his face? He was like, ‘Well, what does that sound like?’”

“We Are the World” remains the eighth best-selling physical single of all time. Richie is immensely proud of the song’s continued resonance in pop culture, including the rampant parodies he sees to this day.

“People say, ‘God, I can’t believe they’re teasing you about this.’ I go, guys, teasing is the best form of flattery because it means it’s popular,” Richie said. “When they don’t talk about it at all, that’s when you have a problem.”

The Greatest Night in Pop premieres on Netflix on January 29.