07/12/2024
OK... Well Groovetwinkles it's been a very long time since I posted onto the Groove Train site, what with life changing floods, domestic displacement, and the general confusion of the post disaster lifestyle. However... Thinking about the relevance of todays massive anniversary and reminicing on that moment in time and what it came to mean and represent, I felt compelled to recognise and pass some comment and recognition on the import of this occassion...
Today, 7th of December marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid.
How it came about...
Having watched a 1984 B.B.C. documentary on the plight of the thousands of people who had been left starving in Ethiopia due to the most protracted droughts and famine which the modern world had ever known Bob Geldof of the band Boomtown Rats contacted his good friend Midge Ure, of the band Ultravox. The pair discussed their mutual concerns regarding the Ethiopian humanitarian crisis and resolved to do something through their musical contacts to try and effect some change in the lives of the thousands starving and dying. The pair decided that they would try to record a song with the involvement of as many of their musical peers as they could convince to be involved. In order to avoid losing funds for the charity and having to pay royalties at the expense of their charitable endeavours they decided that they would write the song themselves. Hence they started working on a song based upon a musical progression that Ure had been toying with.
Geldof took lyrics from a song he had been working on for Boomtown Rats (It’s My World) and with a little tweaking and rearrangement they had in short time completed “Do They Know It’s Christmas.”
When Geldof and Ure started reaching out and contacting friends and peers within Britain’s music industry, floating the prospect of recording the song to raise funds for a charity towards this worthy cause they were astonished and thrilled to find that so many of the big name musicians of the day were not only enthusiastic to be involved, but were willing to give their time and talents free of charge. Not only this, but rival record companies and production houses waived any contractual obstacles allowing their artists to appear on the record which was released on the Phonogram Label through Polygram Records.
The song itself whilst poignant and topical was perhaps a little syrupy and soft. However as a dedicated music fan in his early 20s, this song at the time represented an opportunity for our generation to become legitimate world citizens by standing together and making a difference by effecting changes towards a better world. My generation had been too young to have been a part of the counterculture movement that shook the world in the 1960s, and the 1970s had seen hedonism and fragmentation throughout the music industry. Now, Here on this day in 1984 we had purpose and truly believed that we could change the world and make it a better place…. Did we make a difference? Who can truly know. The important thing was we believed we could and we united on a global scale to try.
Of course the song became a major hit and paved the way for the phenomenal Live Aid shows that would take place on July 13th at Wembley stadium and JFK Stadiums and all around the world. The original Band Aid single has raised approximately £9 million, whilst the original Live Aid shows raised in the vicinity of £150 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Subsequent rehashes of the “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” song and Live Aid concerts have continued to raise monies for the Ethiopian/African relief funds over the past four decades.
The Current Controversies Surrounding the Song
So now 40 years on a number of people, many of them part of todays crop of musicians and artists are seeking to find wrongdoings and negatives within the production, processes and narratives that this song has presented throughout the years. Now I could go on ad-infinitum about each lyric, pointing out it's relevance and purpose within the songs structure. I could explain and justify why lines which may not reflect the whole of the African nation were used, and I could prove to you that the progenitors of this song were not coming from a standpoint where they considered themselves wealthy, superior or in a space to pass judgement, nor were they ignorant of the African nation as a whole. The opposite was actually true. To a person each and every participant knew that they were incredibly fortunate and lucky to be successful "stars", and I can assure you that at the time of their involvement within the songs processes their driving force came from a despair that, yes, they were lucky and comparatively wealthy, and perceived to even have some element of power. But when they looked at what was happening in Ethiopia they were forced to acknowledged that for all their success, adulation, wealth and perceived power they could not change the horrific effects of famine and drought. Subsequently they united, banding together as Band Aid and seeking to enlighten the world to the plight of the starving and bringing us all together to recognize and act upon a great humanitarian cause.
So yes, in understanding the deprivations in Ethiopia at the time we simple people of the world did "Thank God tonight it's them instead of you." We recognised how fortunate we were in our own little lives and we dug deep to try and help those so much worse off than us, simply through geographic placement. Any of us could have been born into Ethiopia. This was not about politics or proprieties, this was about seeing suffering and trying to heal it.
It is important to note and acknowledge that the original lyric as written referenced "Ethiopia" not "Africa." This was changed simply because Ethiopia contains too many syllables to fit melodically into the metering of the song, and if we cannot find it within ourselves to allow and accept this then perhaps we need to examine ourselves. Bottom line, this song in it's original form and subsequent releases, did, has and continues to save lives. No other song in history has brought such unity, awareness and financial support to grand scale suffering and deprivations of natural disasters. so perhaps it's time to applaud and acknowledge this song for its true intentions and achievement and stop hating something which was created entirely from a place of love, care and empathy, in a world which didn't yet have mobile phones or personal computers in every home. Still this song managed to unite and inspire the world into action.
If the heavy hitters of todays world, the Elon Musks, Mark Zuckerbergs, Geoff Bezos's, Larry Ellisons, Bernard Arnaults etc, were to give a small portion of their extraordinary wealth to humanitarian causes we would all of us live in a better, more just and equal world. Hats off to Bill and Melinda Gates who have made considerable efforts to address poverty throughout the world with their "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
Perhaps the rest of you (and the list is much longer that that presented above) could make some efforts on global reparation.
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