THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

455-Band Aid-Do They Know It’s Christmas?

1984-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 2.34. It seems petty to pick faults in such a good cause, but whose idea was it to get Bono to sing ‘Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.’

Bob Geldof (see also best songs 632) who was the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats, was inspired to do something to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia after watching reports on the BBC news by the reporter Michael Buerk. He quickly got together with Midge Ure (see also best songs 543 and 532) of the band Ultravox, and together they wrote this song, with Geldof providing the lyrics, and Ure providing the music, Midge Ure was also the producer of the song.

In order to get the single rush released for the Christmas market, Geldof swiftly set about getting in touch with all the biggest British and Irish Pop stars of the day, according to Geldof, nearly all accepted, with only three, who Geldof refuses to name, saying no. Geldof also got the majority of the UK music magazines to donate free advertising space, the record label he was signed to, ‘Phonogram,’ released the single, and their parent company ‘Polygram’ distributed it, without making any profit to themselves. The majority of the song was recorded over a 24 hour period on Sunday November 25th, 1984, with all of the songs performers recording their parts. Bob Geldof had signed an exclusive deal with the UK newspaper ‘The Daily Mirror’ for them to have access to the studio, and ensure that a promotional ‘team photo’ was taken. All the promotion paid off with advance orders for the song topping 250,000 in the first week. The song was released on Monday December 3rd, 1984, and entered the UK chart at Number 1 the following week, it has since gone on to sell in excess of 3,802,000 copies in the UK, and over 2,500,000 in America, raising in excess of $14 million for famine relief in Africa. Bob Geldof is Irish so he can not be knighted, but he did receive a ‘KBE,’ which is the equivalent, and the reason he is affectionately known as ‘Sir Bob.’

The lyrics for ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ were written by Bob Geldof, with the music and production being by Midge Ure, who spent several days in his home studio, prior to recording, with his engineer, Rik Walton, creating the backing track, programming the keyboards and the drum machines. For the songs intro, Midge Ure used a sample of the drums from the 1983 track The Hurting,’ by Tears for Fears (see also best songs 640 and 24.) While Midge Ure was creating the backing track, Bob Geldof contacted various British and Irish artists to ask them to appear. His plan was to have the biggest names in British and Irish music at the time appear on the record. Those who were unable to attend sent recorded messages of support that appeared on the ‘B’ side, including David Bowie (1947-2016) and Paul McCartney. In total 35 different artists performed on the record, of which only four were female, Siobhan Dallin, Sara Dallin, and Keren Woodward of Bananarama, and the American singer Jody Watley (see also best songs 581.) The musicians who played on the track were Phil Collins, (drums) John Taylor (bass guitar) and Midge Ure ( synthesizers.) The following year in 1985, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was reissued, this time reaching Number three in the UK. The 1985 single was remixed by Trevor Horn, (see also best songs 751-676 and 19) who had been the intended producer of the original version, but hadn’t been available, and it included an updated ‘B’ side entitled ‘One Year On (Feed the World,’) beginning and ending with a recording of a telephone message from Bob Geldof, and in between featuring Midge Ure reciting a list of what had been bought with the money raised during the previous 12 months.

In 1984 ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ reached Number 1 in the UK, and stayed there for five consecutive weeks, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100 it stalled at Number 13, although it was the weeks best selling single. On Billboard, how many times a song is played on the radio is also taken in to account, and the song was receiving little airplay. A second version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was recorded under the name of ‘Band Aid II’ in 1989, this time the production was by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman, (see also best songs 627) and featured many of the successful Pop stars of that year. Bananarama’s Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward became the only artists to appear on both the 1984 and 1989 versions of the record. Siobhan Fahey, who had been part of Bananarama’s line-up at the time the first recording of the song was released, had left the group in 1988. The ‘Band Aid II’ version spent three weeks at number one in the UK, becoming the Christmas Number 1 single, and the last Number 1 single of the 1980’s. In 2004, ‘Band Aid 20’ recorded a third version of the song for the 20th anniversary of the original recording, and again it got to Number 1 in the UK. The song was produced by the ‘Alternative Rock’ music producer Nigel Godrich, probably best known for his work with the English Rock band Radiohead. This version of the song featured an extra segment, a ‘Rap’ by Dizzee Rascal in the midst of the ‘here’s to you’ section. Bono flew in especially from Ireland to sing the same line as he had done two decades earlier, making him the sixth artist to appear on two versions, in addition to Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, Paul McCartney, Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward. In November 2014, Geldof and Ure announced that another group of artists would come together to re-record the song, this time under the banner of ‘Band Aid 30’ and in aid of the ‘Ebola’ crisis, the production this time was by the English ‘Indie Rock,’ ‘Hip-Hop,’ ‘Pop,’ and ‘Dance’ music producer Paul Epworth. The lyrics were altered to address the then ongoing outbreak of ‘Ebola,’ and once again Bono added his vocals to the track, making him the only artist to appear on three different recordings. This version also topped the singles chart in the UK, like it’s predecessors.

‘It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid. At Christmas time we let in light and we banish shade. And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy, throw your arms around the world at Christmas time.’