Do They Know It's Christmas?
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| “Do They Know It's Christmas?” | ||
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Cover art for the original release (artist Peter Blake)
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| Single by Band Aid | ||
| B-side | "Feed the World" | |
| Released | December 3, 1984 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | November 25, 1984 | |
| Label | Phonogram Records Columbia Records (US/Canada) |
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| Writer(s) | Bob Geldof (lyrics) and Midge Ure (music & lyrics) | |
| Producer | Midge Ure | |
| “Do They Know It's Christmas?” | ||
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| Single by Band Aid II | ||
| Released | 1989 | |
| Writer(s) | Bob Geldof and Midge Ure | |
| Producer | Stock Aitken Waterman | |
| “Do They Know It's Christmas?” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by TV Allstars from the album Ultimate Christmas Album |
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| Released | November 29, 2003 | |
| Writer(s) | Bob Geldof (lyrics) and Midge Ure (music & lyrics) | |
| Producer | Midge Ure | |
| “Do They Know It's Christmas?” | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Band Aid 20 | ||
| Released | 2004 | |
| Format | CD, Digital download | |
| Writer(s) | Bob Geldof and Midge Ure | |
| Producer | Nigel Godrich | |
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 specifically to raise money for relief of 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure, and released by Band Aid on December 3, 1984.[1]
In late 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof had seen the report and was moved so much that he decided that a pop record should be used to further increase awareness of the famine and to raise money. Aware that he could do little on his own, he called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".[1]
Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.
Geldof put together a group called Band Aid, consisting of leading Irish and British musicians who were among the most popular and recognised of this era.
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[edit] The recording session
Respected producer Trevor Horn was approached by Geldof to produce the song, but he was unavailable. Instead, he gave use of his studio, Sarm West in London, free of charge to the project for 24 hours, which Geldof accepted, assigning Ure as the producer instead. So, on November 25, 1984, the song was recorded and mixed.
Geldof and Ure arrived first at dawn so that Ure could put the recorded backing tracks, put together at his home studio, on to the system at SARM. He also had vocals recorded by both Sting and Simon Le Bon of the song which he had acquired from the artists early in order to provide a guide for the other singers.
The world's media were in attendance as artists began arriving from 9am. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Paul Young, Culture Club (without Boy George, initially), George Michael of Wham!, Kool and the Gang, Sting, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 (whom Ure personally ordered down) and his bandmate Martyn Ware, Phil Collins, Paul Weller of the Style Council, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, Jody Watley of Shalamar, Bananarama, Marilyn (who was not invited but arrived anyway) and some of Geldof's bandmates from the Boomtown Rats all arrived. Only one of Ure's Ultravox colleagues, Chris Cross, attended. Geldof, noticing Boy George's non-attendance (despite ringing him up in New York the day before demanding he sing on the record), went back to the phone to get the Culture Club frontman out of bed and on to Concorde.
Ure played the backing track and guide vocals to the artists together, then decided, in a way of getting all involved straightaway, to record the crescendo first, which also allowed the 'team shot' of the day to be photographed. The artists were put in a huge group and sang the 'Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time' refrain over and over again until it was completed.
Then Ure sought a volunteer to be first into the studio to sing the main body of the song. Eventually Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet took the plunge, with plenty of rival artists watching him, and sang the song straight through. The other assigned singers then did likewise, with Ure taping their efforts and then making notes as to which bits would be cut into the final recording. Le Bon, despite having already done his bit at Ure's house, re-recorded his so he could be part of the moment. Sting also recorded the words again, this time to provide harmony.
Phil Collins arrived with his entire drum kit and waited until Ure was ready to record him over an electronic drum track that had already been put in place. The song ended up as a mixture of Collins' drums and an African rhythm that opens the song, taken from a sample of The Hurting by Tears for Fears.
Not all went smoothly. Ure stated in his autobiography that he was constantly battling with Geldof, the song's lyricist but not renowned for his melody skills, and telling him to 'fuck off' when he would come into the production booth and wrongly tell the artist behind the mic what to sing. Ure also had to shelve an attempt by the two members of Status Quo to record the "here's to you" harmonies because Parfitt couldn't hit the note. Rossi afterwards told Ure that Parfitt never sang in the studio, only onstage, and he should have kept him away from the mic. This section was eventually taken on by Weller, Sting and Gregory.
Boy George arrived at 6 pm and went straight into the recording booth to deliver his lines. Once he had finished, Ure had all the vocals he needed and, as the artists began to party and then drifted away, began working on the mix. A B-side, featuring messages from artists who had and hadn't made the recording (including David Bowie, Annie Lennox from Eurythmics, Paul McCartney, all members of Big Country and Holly Johnson from the most successful British band of 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood) was also recorded over the same backing track. Trevor Horn arrived back to his own studio to put this together.
Despite being singers themselves, neither Geldof nor Ure had a solo line on the song, though both took part in the 'Feed the world' crescendo.
Ure worked on the mix through the night and finally completed the task at 8am on the Monday morning. Prior to departing SARM, Geldof recorded a statement: "This record was recorded on the 25th of November 1984. It's now 8am on the 26th. We've been here 24 hours and I think it's time we went home."
The song was quickly dispatched to the pressing plants who had promised to have the single pressed and ready by the Friday. A spell of publicity and final legal details followed, then it hit the shops on Monday December 3 in a sleeve designed by Peter Blake. It went straight to #1.
[edit] Participants
The original Band Aid ensemble consisted of (in sleeve order):
- Adam Clayton (U2)
- Phil Collins (Genesis, solo)
- Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats)
- Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet)
- Chris Cross (Ultravox)
- John Taylor (Duran Duran)
- Paul Young
- Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)
- Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)
- Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)
- Simon Crowe (Boomtown Rats)
- Marilyn
- Keren Woodward (Bananarama)
- Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
- Jody Watley (Shalamar)
- Bono (U2)
- Paul Weller (The Style Council)
- James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & the Gang)
- George Michael (Wham!)
- Midge Ure (Ultravox)
- Martyn Ware (Heaven 17)
- John Keeble (Spandau Ballet)
- Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
- Roger Taylor (Duran Duran)
- Sarah Dallin (Bananarama)
- Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama)
- Pete Briquette (Boomtown Rats)
- Francis Rossi (Status Quo)
- Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang)
- Dennis J. T. Thomas (Kool & the Gang)
- Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)
- Jon Moss (Culture Club)
- Sting (The Police)
- Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)
- Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
- Johnny Fingers (Boomtown Rats)
- David Bowie
- Boy George (Culture Club)
- Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
- Paul McCartney (Former member of The Beatles)
- Stuart Adamson (Big Country)
- Bruce Watson (Big Country)
- Tony Butler (Big Country)
- Mark Brzezicki (Big Country)
[edit] Style and content
The song comprises two parts: a verse and bridge which allow individual singers to perform different lines; and a chorus in the form of two repeated phrases by ensemble. The chorus was added by Midge Ure shortly before the recording session.
[edit] Lyrics
The first line of the recording is sung by Paul Young on the 1984 version, Kylie Minogue on the 1989 version, and Chris Martin on the 2004 version. The line was originally written for David Bowie who finally sang it at the Live Aid concert. See the Band Aid article for the full list of contributors.
The lyrics are as follows:
It's Christmastime There's no need to be afraid At Christmastime, 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 Christmastime
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun There's a world outside your window And it's a world of dread and fear Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime The greatest gift they'll get this year is life (Oooh) Where nothing ever grows No rain nor rivers flow Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone (Here's to them) underneath that burning sun Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Feed the world Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again
Feed the world Let them know it's Christmastime again
[edit] Public release
The following morning Geldof appeared on Mike Read's BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to promote the record and promised that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government which refused to waive the VAT (sales tax) on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.
Radio 1 began to play the song every hour - normally an A-list single got seven or eight plays per day - as the public mood was gripped. The DJs began to take apart the song in order to identify each vocalist, and BBC Television were persuaded by Geldof (who rang BBC1 controller Michael Grade personally) that Top of the Pops, the flagship chart show, should break with tradition and feature a song which had yet to be released. Grade watched the video and immediately ordered that every preceding programme should start five minutes early in order to accommodate it on Top of the Pops. David Bowie flew into England to record an introduction for the video.
The single was released on December 3, 1984, and went straight to #1 in the UK pop charts, outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks and ultimately sold more than three million copies.
Each week of its stay at #1, the video would be shown on Top of the Pops, although for the Christmas Day episode, reviewing the year's hits, the song was relayed through the speaker system where all the artists mimed their own line - with the exception of Bono. U2 weren't invited on to the episode, as they'd only had one hit in 1984 and were still a growing band, so Paul Weller was given the embarrassing task of miming Bono's words as well as his own.
In the United States, the video was played on MTV frequently throughout the holiday season. It sold more than a million copies in the States but did not reach #1 there, due to the more complex nature of the chart system, which counted airplay as well as sales. Despite outselling the official #1 by four to one, it did not make the Top Ten.
The single was released just before Christmas with the aim of raising money for the relief of the famine. Geldof's somewhat cautious hope was for £70,000. Ultimately, however, the song raised many millions of pounds and became the biggest-selling single in UK chart history. (It has since been passed by Elton John's tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, "Candle in the Wind 1997.")
Eventually, the American band Foreigner displaced the song at #1 in the UK with their rock ballad "I Want to Know What Love Is" at the beginning of 1985. During Band Aid's tenure at the top, Wham! had stayed at #2 with their double A-side "Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants", which became the biggest selling single (at over a million) not to reach #1 in the UK. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley donated their royalties from this record to Band Aid.
[edit] Further releases
Twelve months later, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" returned to the UK charts, reaching #3 in the week after Christmas of 1985, with only songs by Whitney Houston and Shakin' Stevens preventing its return to the top merely 47 weeks after it had left the #1 spot. A new version was recorded under the name of Band Aid II in 1989, produced by the popular Hit Factory team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman and featuring a number of the year's most accessible artists, including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Lisa Stansfield and Bros. Bananarama also appeared, making them the only artists to appear on both versions (although they couldn't be heard on the first). The song again reached #1 for Christmas, raising more money.
Band Aid 20 recorded a third version of the song in November 2004 for the twentieth anniversary of the original recording, and again got to #1. The idea was prompted by Coldplay singer Chris Martin, although Geldof and Ure both got quickly involved. Geldof did the publicity and educated the younger artists on the issues (the likes of Joss Stone didn't know about the song because she hadn't been born) while Ure assisted producer Nigel Godrich and filmed the event for the corresponding documentary.
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 arrived at the recording to sing the same line as two decades earlier.
In Germany, the song enjoys cult classic status together with "Last Christmas" by Wham!. Both songs have become perennial Christmas favourites and are often played in a row on AC radio stations and at dance clubs. While the 1989 and 2004 versions of Do They Know It's Christmas had notable chart success, the popularity of the original 1984 recording has remained unmatched and the record has seen numerous re-releases in small numbers around Christmas over the years.
[edit] Other versions and parodies
In 2005, a spoof of this song was released: "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" a tongue-in-cheek spoof of "Do They Know It's Christmas", with a wide variety of indie stars.
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this into a Lounge style song on their 2006 album, "Silent Nightclub".
In the 2003 video game Grand Theft Auto Vice City, a song entitled "Do They Know It's the Fourth of July" is mentioned in on the radio station VCPR in reference to Alaska.
In 2004, the Swedish singer Shirley Clamp recorded a cover of the song with a schlager rhythm which sold very well in Swedish Charts. It's still been sold in stores and it is a very popular Christmas song there.
Canadian band Barenaked Ladies recorded a version of the song, which they had played live for several years, for their 2004 release Barenaked for the Holidays. The release of the album happened to coincide with the 2004 Band Aid release. All the profits/royalties the band receive for their release are donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
There are also two Polish versions of that song, both called "Daj im znak", which means "give them a sign". One of them recorded by Cugowski Brothers, Maciej Silski, and Grzegorz Markowski (Perfect), and the other one by Magda Rzemek, Cugowski brothers (Bracia), and Artur Gadowski (IRA).
In 2003, the TV AllStars released a version of the song. In the Christmas of 2004, Conan O'Brien of Late Night with Conan O'Brien did a segment on his show which was supposed to be a sale of a Christmas CD called "Do They Know the Singers of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'?"
In 2006, the creators of the Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Bros. recorded a cover of the song, sung in the voices of the characters they play on the show.
In 1999, The Echoing Green recorded a cover version which appeared on the album Electronica.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Interview with Midge Ure and Bob Geldof, featuring Ure's original demo
- ^ Electronica,discogs.com
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