Songoftheday 12/24/13 - And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy, throw your arms around the world at Christmastime...

Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
from the single (1984)
also appearing on the compilation Now That's What I Call Christmas (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 4

Today's song of the day was a milestone for the way that the music business would lend a hand to charitable causes. After a British news investigation on the plight of starving people in the war and drought-ravaged country of Ethiopia was aired, Irish singer Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Scotsman Midge Ure of Ultravox put together an all-star lineup of mostly British recording artists (plus Americans Kool & The Gang and Jody Watley) on the fly to record a song they quickly had written for a single to benefit the African nation's hungry, under the moniker "Band Aid".  With 24 hours of free recording time donated to tape "Do They Know It's Christmas?", Geldof and Ure (the latter producing the song) with Paul Young, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, Sting of the Police, Boy George of Culture Club, and Bono from U2 (providing the song's most heartfelt moment, before his own band became superstars), among others, laid down the verses, so Ure could pick the best lines from each singer.

With a media blitz for the project, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released four days after the tracks were recorded in November of 1984. With all the monies going to charity (after a fight with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over taxes initially taken on the record, one of the many shitty things she'll be remembered for), the single became the fastest selling record in British history. The video was taken from the recording sessions for the track (of course hiding the cocaine and booze needed by the artists...)

"Do They Know It's Christmas" entered the British charts at #1, selling over a million copies in its first week. It stayed on top for a total of five weeks. In American where the Billboard Hot 100 was compiled from both radio airplay and sales, even though the song sold well over the competition, it only managed to make it to the top-20.

But Band Aid's impact went way beyond a Christmas novelty single. With proof that people will give money towards a musical benefit release, other charity records and events followed, including USA For Africa's "We Are The World", the crowd-involvement stunt "Hands Across America", and most of all Live Aid, where two concerts from Philadelphia and London were televised around the world to raise money like a telethon. And every benefit record since can trace its roots to this simple and immediate call to arms to fight against hunger during the world's most "giving" time of year.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


...it's worth the time to watch the documentary honoring the record...




Four years later, the British production team of Stock Aitken Waterman put together another all-star cast featuring Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Somerville (of Bronski Beat), Bananarama (who were on the first BA record), Lisa Stansfield, Cliff Richard, and others to redo "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and again reached #1 in the UK for three weeks.

On the twentieth anniversary of the original release of "Do They Know...", Chris Martin of Coldplay collaborated with Geldof and Ure for a third version of the song, with dramatically changed instrumentals and a rap interlude by British rapper Dizzee Rascal. Like the others, this version topped the chart in the UK for four weeks in 2004...

That same year Canadian band Barenaked Ladies also covered the song for their Christmas album Barenaked For The Holidays...

In 2011 the cast of the American TV show Glee covered "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and the song (which also benefited the Band Aid Trust) went to #92 in the US and #85 in Canada...

Finally, even comedians got in on the action (plus Aimee Mann) for a version...

I'll be off tomorrow, but I'll return with another Song of the Day on Thursday, with a record the singer did not want coming out, about a singer he gets mistaken for.