"We Care a Lot" is a song by American rock band Faith No More. There are three versions of the song, all of which have been officially released over three different albums. The original was recorded for and released on the band's first studio album, We Care a Lot. A re-recorded version, with new lyrics, was included on the album Introduce Yourself and was the lead single, reaching number 53 on the UK Singles Chart.[2] The live version, without original singer Chuck Mosley, was included on the live album and video Live at the Brixton Academy and was also released as a single in 1991. It was the second most frequently-played song during the band's live performances, behind "Epic".[3] "We Care a Lot" featured different lyrics and ad-libs when performed by Mike Patton, much like performances of "Chinese Arithmetic".
Production
The original version of the song was one of the first five songs finished for We Care a Lot, recorded before the band received financial backing for the album[4] at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California, and was re-recorded, with some updated lyrics, for their major label début Introduce Yourself in mid-1986 at Studio D in Sausalito, California.
Lyrical content
The lyrics of the song are a sarcastic parody of charity concerts such as Live Aid, especially "the popstar posing that accompanied those charitable events", according to Steve Huey of AllMusic.[5] The song lists a range of things about which the band sarcastically claims "we care a lot", such as the LAPD, the "food that Live Aid bought", the Garbage Pail Kids and even The Transformers. The original version, released in 1985, mentions Madonna and Mr. T. This was altered for social relevance in the 1987 re-release. When asked about the song's meaning, Chuck Mosley replied:
Well, ah Roddy wrote all the things that he cared about and I just wrote the part that says, "it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it" 'cause I figured that's just the feeling I got. That's the only thing I submitted. That, and the newer lyrics in the updated version.[6]
The music video produced for "We Care a Lot", directed by Bob Biggs and Jay Brown,[7] was the first video produced for a Faith No More song and received moderate airplay on MTV.[5]
The song was included on the soundtrack album for the high school reunion film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). "We Care a Lot" was included alongside other 1980s songs, and briefly appears within the film itself, during a scene where Martin (John Cusack) and Debi (Minnie Driver) are arriving at their high school reunion.[8]
Allmusic's reviewer laments the song's lack of future front-man Mike Patton, calling Mosley's vocals "brute thuggishness" and "flat", but also says that the song is a "fully realized effort in itself".[5] "We Care a Lot" was also listed in PopMatters' 65 Great Protest Songs, citing it as Faith No More's anti-protest song and as a "smirking account of everything that pop and political culture shoved down our throats at the height of the Reagan revolution".[9]
Chuck Mosley recorded the song for his 2009 album Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food with keyboardist Roddy Bottum. Mosley changed lyrics in the verses, including a nod to his former band's biggest hit "Epic" with the lyric, "We care a lot about the guy who wanted it all but couldn't have it."[13]
