Tonight a bevy of music artists premiere their remake of “We Are The World” to benefit Haiti.It seems like, in America, when we want to help, we sing. Or we watch singers. Or we buy songs. From Farm Aid to the Haiti benefit concert and everywhere in between, we sell songs to raise money. Does that seem weird to anyone?Don’t get me wrong; I love that people take the talents they have and use them to benefit those in need. If you can swing a hammer, you build. If you write, you write. If you can set a broken leg, you help heal. If you can sing, you sing.When “We Are The World” was first recorded, it wasn’t a common thing to respond to tragedy by writing and selling a song. That’s what made that recording so unique; getting all of those egos in one room was quite a feat and the idea of everyone donating their talent for the benefit of others was inspiring.But over the years, the trend has been to record and sell a song whenever tragedy strikes somewhere in the world. It’s becoming a little bit tedious and self-serving.Over the past month I’ve gotten a bunch of news tips from artists who right after the earthquake penned tunes in honor of Haiti. While I’m sure that many of these artists have very honorable intentions to voice their feelings and emotions in song, I can’t help but wonder if a few of them aren’t secretly hoping their song becomes the next tragic anthem du jour? Someone else’s tragedy becomes their big break?In any event, tonight we get another rendition of what might be the most annoying song ever written. I hate to even watch these clips, because the song is going to be stuck in my head for days. And that’s coming from a girl who loved it the first time around. (The fact that I had a little crush on Simon LeBon probably had something to do with it … wait, that’s not even the right song, is it? I”m thinking of the “snow in Africa” song. See what happens when you start recording saccharine anthems for every cause? They all get muddled.)But what do you think about the celebrity benefit concerts and the “We Are The World” remake?UPDATE: 2/13/10 I can’t get away from this song. According to a press release:

“The entire seven minute “We Are The World 25 For Haiti” music video will be broadcast for the first time tomorrow, Saturday, February 13 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on NBC as part of NBC’s Winter Olympic coverage and part of an unprecedented international “roadblock simulcast” on broadcast and cable networks. Saturday’s “roadblock simulcast” follows this evening’s world premiere broadcast of a specially created three minute video of “We Are The World 25 For Haiti” which debuted during NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.”

Thanks for the warning.UPDATE 2/13/10 – Thanks to reader and blogger Jeff Finley, who noticed a change in the lyrics that he said were more biblically correct, and mused that perhaps it was due to Christian artists Bebe Winans, Mary Mary, and The Fray’s Isaac Slade on the recording.From what I’ve been hearing, the premiere last night was terrible. So … if a terrible song is biblically correct, is it still terrible? LOLGot a gospel or Christian music news tip? Send me an email!Click here to subscribe to Gospel Soundcheck by email and have the Gospel Soundcheck headlines delivered daily to your email inbox. And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!