Do you like this song? #444
Yes I like it, I already know it
Yes I like it, first time listening
No I don't like it, I already know it
No I don't like it, first time listening
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? 1984
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The song was recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts such as U2, Sting, Wham!, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Phil Collins, as well as the US group Kool & the Gang. The song was recorded in a single day in November 1984, and the single was released in the UK on 7 December 1984.
It entered the UK singles chart at number one, where it remained for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one. It sold a million copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997". UK sales passed three million on the last day of 1984. The song also reached number one in 13 other countries. It was released in the US on 10 December 1984 and sold 1.9 million copies in its first eleven days on release but did not reach number one, due to the more complex chart system, which counted airplay as well as sales. Despite outselling the official number one by four to one, it did not make the top ten due to a lack of airplay, and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song had sold 11.7 million copies worldwide by 1989 and 3.8 million in the UK by 2017.
Most retailers agreed to sell the record at its cost price of £1.35 including VAT. The British government donated an amount to the charity equal to the amount of tax they had collected on the single. The song raised £8 million for Ethiopia within a year, far exceeding Geldof's hopes. When Wham!, who appeared on "Do They Know It's Christmas?", reached number two with their single "Last Christmas" (poll #445), they donated their royalties to the Band Aid Trust. The success led to several other charity singles, such as "We Are the World" (1985) by USA for Africa, and spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief and the 1985 Live Aid concert. In 2010, the BBC apologised after falsely reporting that money raised by Band Aid and Live Aid had been diverted by rebels and used to pay for weapons.
Critics objected to the song's depiction of Ethiopia and Africa as barren. Ure said the song was secondary to the purpose of raising money for the cause. It was re-recorded and re-released in 1989, 2004 and 2014. All three reached number one in the UK, and the 1989 and 2004 versions became Christmas number ones. A new mix, combining elements of the previous versions, was released in 2024 for the 40th anniversary. For the 2014 version, several contentious lyrics were rewritten, and the song was changed to focus on Ebola rather than famine. The new lyrics have also been criticised as promoting stereotypes and condescension. Criticism from Africans regarding the song remained: in 2014, African activists and Twitter users complained that the song disregarded the diversity of the continent of Africa and ultimately did more harm than good for the people.
Several publications and commentators have described the lyrics as racist and demeaning towards Ethiopians. Ethiopia is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, yet the lyrics and title imply that Africans would be unaware of Christmas at all. Peter Gill, one of the few Western journalists in Ethiopia at the time, said: "As Ethiopians have pointed out ever since, they did of course know it was Christmas because the starving were mainly [Orthodox] Christian."
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" received a total of 48,7% yes votes.
