RICHIE, JACKSON, ‘WORLD’: ‘WE WROTE IT TO SAVE LIVES’

To hear Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson tell it, they were only standing in for the real writer of “We Are the World�--the song whose domination of Tuesday’s Grammy ceremonies came as no surprise.

“We didn’t really write this song; it came through us,� Richie said early in the evening, after he and Jackson accepted the song of the year trophies for their composition.

“We didn’t write it to win an award or anything,� he said. “We actually wrote it to save lives. This is a milestone because we did something for the people. We had no idea it would get this far.�

Jackson was less expansive, telling the assembled reporters, “I love you all.�

But he was downright loquacious later, after “We Are the World� was named record of the year. Joining fellow USA for Africa principals Richie, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick, Jackson responded to a question about how they wrote “We Are the World.�

“It’s one of the hardest questions to answer,� he said. “It just comes. The song just kind of creates itself. I don’t want to dissect it. I just let it happen.�

Phil Collins, whose “No Jacket Required� prevented a “We Are the World� sweep when it took best album honors, said he felt “a little funny� finishing ahead of the charity record in that category. “I thought this night was going to be a ‘We Are the World’ night,� Collins said, then recalled a comment made by Bob Geldof, the Irish singer who initiated pop music’s whole famine relief movement: “What started the whole thing off was Ethiopia, and to get patted on the back for people dying is a little funny.�

The biggest backstage surprise came when the normally media-shy Barbra Streisand entered the press area with Mrs. Ira Gershwin, who had accepted the Trustees award from Streisand in behalf of George and Ira Gershwin.

Streisand tried to direct the media’s attention to Mrs. Gershwin, but didn’t have much luck. The press wanted to hear Streisand’s comments on her best-selling “Broadway Album.� Said the singer: “I made the album for integrity and I didn’t know that it was going to be No. 1 and that part didn’t matter.�

Streisand also attracted attention with her two-piece outfit: a jacket and a long skirt with a racy slit up the side. “It’s a little thing I designed because I like to wear a man’s suit,� she said.

Nick Rhodes, one of the fashion plates from Duran Duran and its spinoff group Arcadia, was headed toward a backstage restroom when he was descended upon by a platoon of photographers. Rhodes reached his refuge, and security men stood guarding the door, but one photographer slipped by and was waiting for Rhodes when he emerged. Because he was using no flash, the surreptitious shutterbug was able to capture an unaware Nick washing his hands, preening in the mirror and heard him muttering, “This stuff gets worse every year.�

Whoopi Goldberg, winner of the best comedy recording Grammy, was looking casual, wearing pants and a sweater and smoking a cigarette. Most of the questions concerned not her Grammy but the controversy surrounding “The Color Purple� (for which she’s received a best actress Oscar nomination) and the motion picture academy’s snub of its director, Steven Spielberg. “The biggest compliment they gave him was when they gave him 11 nominations,� she observed. Of his absence from the best director category: “It’s a small bunch of people with small minds who chose to ignore the obvious.�

“Aren’t we a cute couple?� asked guitarist Eddie Van Halen, whose wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli, wore enough gold chains to rival Mr. T. “Like Michael Jackson and Liz Taylor,� someone answered. Replied Eddie: “They aren’t even in our league.�

Whitney Houston, noted for her one-word answers, was asked about the academy’s controversial ruling that she was ineligible for the best new artist competition because of some duets she recorded in 1984.

Did she feel she should have been eligible?

“No,� she said.