Although recorded independently of the USA for Africa project, it was included on the full-length We Are the World album.
The project was organized by Bruce Allen, who brought together a large group of artists to record a song written by David Foster, Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams, Rachel Paiement, Paul Hyde and Bob Rock. Foster and Vallance wrote the music and initial lyrics, Adams completed the English lyrics, Paiement wrote the one French verse, Rock & Hyde contributed the song title. The song was recorded on February 10, 1985 at Manta Sound studios in Toronto.
Foster revealed the melody of the song was originally offered to filmmaker Joel Schumacher as incidental music for his film St. Elmo's Fire (film). Schumacher reported hated it but was later, in Foster's words, "really pissed" when it showed up later as a charity single.[2]
The song was issued as the album's second and final single by Columbia Records[3] on May 1, 1985,[4] and quickly reached number one on the Canadian Top 40 chart. It also finished number one on the year-end Canadian charts for that year. The song's video also received extensive airplay on MuchMusic.
By 1990, the project had raised $3.2 million for famine relief projects in Africa. Ten percent of the funds raised was set aside to assist Canadian food banks.
Joni Mitchell later spoke to writer Iain Blair about the recording experience: "I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was literally starving when we did the session 'cause 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 'cause he's picking up some weird rumbling sound coming from my direction. (She laughed.) And it was all pretty ironic, considering the subject matter!"[10]
At one point during the recording process, Foster also had Neil Young re-record his line after singing the word "innocence" flat, to which Young famously quipped, "That's my sound, man."[11]
Buffy Sainte-Marie - According to journalist Terry David Mulligan, Sainte-Marie was supposed to be part of the project but did not show up to recording sessions. As a result, the term "Buffy bailed" became an expression in certain Canadian music circles.[12]
Leonard Cohen - Because Cohen performed the day before the recording session in Copenhagen, Denmark, he would have been unable to appear on the recording.[13]
Rik Emmett - The Triumph (band) frontman was on tour in the United States at the time "Tears Are Not Enough" was recorded. Triumph played a show at the Beaumont Civic CenterinBeaumont, Texas that day. Emmett says he was invited and would have loved to be part of the recording but scheduling wouldn't allow and recording verses remotely wasn't an option.[14][15]
Stompin' Tom Connors - The recording of "Tears Are Not Enough" overlapped with Connors' self-imposed retirement, a move meant to protest the lack of support given to Canadian stories by the policies of the Federal government. Therefore, Connors was unable to attend the sessions.
A live version of "Tears Are Not Enough" was performed at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala in Toronto on September 24, 2022. The rendition included many original Northern Lights members including soloists Hart, Hill, and Cockburn plus new Canadian talent such as Alessia Cara and Charlotte Cardin.[18]
