Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid Songfacts Songfacts This is a charity single organized by Bob Geldof, who was the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats. He got the idea after watching a BBC documentary on famine in Ethiopia. Geldof wrote the lyrics and Midge Ure from the band Ultravox wrote the music and produced the track, which was no easy task since so many voices were involved. In England, and much of the Northern Hemisphere, snow and numerous displays leave no doubt that Christmas is near. In most of Africa, however, it's quite warm on December 25, since it's summer there. This song asks us to think of those who are living in poverty and hunger in Africa during the Christmas season, reminding us that they might not even know it's Christmas. While the sentiment and melody are full of good tidings, the lyrics are quite bleak: "The Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom." Most of this song was recorded and mixed over a 24-hour period on Sunday, November 25, 1984. Sting and Simon LeBon had recorded their parts ahead of time, but everyone else came that day.

None of the vocalists heard the song before they arrived, so they learned their parts by listening to a guide vocal producer Midge Ure created, then recorded them. With such a tight schedule, there was no time to quibble. In the Songfacts interview with Ure , he said that this time constraint helped the effort. "Sometimes, that kind of pressure gets you to create something magical, gets you to eliminate the liberations that you end up having in the studio," he said. "We just had to nail it and get on with it. Get the vocal track from everyone that was acceptable. As it turns out, a lot of the vocal tracks were exceptional." The performers who sang verses were, in order: Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Simon Le Bon, and Bono. The chorus included David Bowie, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Geldof, Ure and many other artists who weren't given a verse but sang the "Feed The World" part and lent their images to the effort by appearing in the promotional photo. Check out the Band Aid photo with list of performers . The artists were not all friends, but they set aside their differences and were at least cordial to each other during the recording - with one exception.

In the book I Want My MTV, George Michael said: "The only person who didn't succumb to the charitable nature of the day was Paul Weller, who decided to have a go at me in front of everybody. I said, 'Don't be a wanker all your life. Have a day off.'" In the UK, this became the best-selling single ever. Elton John's " Candle In The Wind '97 " currently holds that record. Not everyone in the UK was a fan, however. Morrissey told Time Out in 1985 that the project was "diabolical," adding: "It was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music." This was the first of the big group charity efforts among musicians. A year later, US artists released " We Are The World ," and Geldof helped organize Live Aid. Other charity singles that followed include " Sun City " and " That's What Friends Are For ." The single raised $14 million for famine relief in Africa. Geldof is Irish, so he cannot be knighted, but he did receive a KBE, which is equivalent and is popularly known as Sir or Saint Bob.

>> Suggestion credit: Flo - London, England The video was directed by Nigel Dick, who had done some videos for The Boomtown Rats. He got the request to make the video on short notice, and had no idea what the song was going to be. He didn't have a budget either, so he simply set up two cameras - one outside and one inside - to capture the action. As the artists trickled in to record their parts, Dick filmed them entering the building and then recording. This footage was used not just for the music video, but also for a 30-minute behind-the-scenes piece documenting the making of the single. This video was also sold, with proceeds going to the relief effort. In our 2015 talk with Midge Ure, he said: "It's never been a great song. It's kind of grown into a better song than it ever was. But as a recording, as a production, I'm immensely proud of it. So is Bob. Because it did its job phenomenally.

As a record, you hear it now on the radio and the opening clang, the opening atmospherics, my multi-tracked vocal thing, all of that stuff, it still sends shivers up your spine. So as a record, as a production, it did a brilliant job despite the fact that the song was OK." Who gave the most inspired vocal performance on this song? To Midge Ure's ears, it was Bono. He told us: "When Bono took that line of the song - 'Tonight thank God it's them instead of you' - I had originally sung it on the guide vocal an octave lower, and he just decided to let it rip, and it was phenomenal. Electric. It was just sensational." Boy George was nearly a no-show, asleep in New York the day of recording. His band Culture Club was huge at the time and Bob Geldof was counting on him for a key vocal, so Geldof called him, woke him up, and told him to get on a Concorde. George flew to London, got behind the microphone and delivered the vocal they were looking for.

Trevor Horn, who was a member of the Buggles and Yes, donated the use of his studio (Sarm Studios in London) to record the song. He also pieced together the B-side of the single, which is an instrumental version with the artists delivering messages over the music. It is called "Feed The World" on the single. Bob Geldof wrote the original pre-chorus line as "There won't be snow in Ethiopia this Christmas." Midge Ure convinced him to swap "Ethiopia" for "Africa." "No matter how you try, you cannot scan 'Ethiopia,'" Ure told us. "That just does not work." John Taylor from Duran Duran played bass; Phil Collins played drums. The rest of the instrumentation was done by Midge Ure, who handed the programming and keyboards. Two versions of the single were released. The 7-inch, which is what radio stations usually play, runs 3:55. The 12-inch runs 6:18 and features spoken messages from some of the performers. The 7-inch single was re-released the next year, raising more money for famine relief in Africa.

Downloading didn't exist in 1984, so obtaining the rights needed to sell downloads of this song proved very difficult, and for many years it wasn't available on iTunes or Amazon except in knockoff versions. When Geldof wrote the basic part of this song, he envisioned it as a Boomtown Rats song, but when he played it for his bandmates they turned it down. The cover of the single was designed by Peter Blake, who is famous for shooting the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Bob Geldof explained in the book I Want My MTV: "To me, the '80s were characterized by overwhelming generosity and kindness. Prior to Live Aid, People had been participating in this phenomenon for months. 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' was sold in butcher shops all during Christmas. For whatever reason, this song - not a particularly good song - tapped into a groundswell of compassion. We never said we'd eliminate world hunger, but we could draw attention to a monstrous human crime, a moral and intellectual absurdity.

It worked." In 1989, a group of artists including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, and Bros (Featuring Luke Goss on drums) re-recorded this as Band Aid II. The only artists left over from the original Band Aid were Bananarama. This effort was produced by the team of Stock, Aitken And Waterman and once again raised money for African famine relief. In 2004, a new version recorded by a group of artists including Bono, Paul McCartney, Chris Martin and Dido was released as a single in the UK, with proceeds going to help victims of political and humanitarian crisis in Sudan. "Band Aid 20," as this collective was known, was produced by Nigel Godrich. Bono is the only artist on this version who was also on the original. In 2014, a fourth permutation of Band Aid was assembled to once again record this song. Known as "Band Aid 30," this rendition was produced by Paul Epworth with proceeds going to Ebola relief. Singers included One Direction, Sam Smith, and once again... Bono.

Bob "Humbug" Geldof told Australia's The Daily Telegraph in a 2010 interview: "I am responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', the other one is 'We Are The World.' Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing. Every f---ing Christmas." Geldof added that he gets irritated when carol singers perform the charity hit in front of his home during the holidays. "They think 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' is as old as ' Silent Night .' Sometimes I think that's wild because I wrote it. Or else I am thinking how much I want them to stop because they are doing it really badly." After this song generated about £10 million for famine relief, Bob Geldof traveled to Ethiopia to oversee distribution of the aid. He took a very hands-on approach, meeting with relief agencies to determine where the money could do the most good. To acknowledge the artists and the folks who bought the album, he made sure that "Love from Band Aid" was emblazoned on many of the supplies, including vehicles. Geldof never glorified the relief effort.

Asked if he was proud of his work to end hunger in a 1985 Radio Times interview, Geldof replied: "Not at all, It's exhausting and a total bore if you want to know truth. It's not fulfilling at all. I'm endlessly frustrated." Spin magazine later reported that the money Geldof brought to Ethiopia was used by the war-torn country's dictator to arm his forces and crush his enemies. According to the report, the Ethiopian famine was mostly caused by its government, which poisoned farms of its opponents. A high-profile absence from the Band Aid project was Queen, who weren't invited because they had played South Africa earlier that year, violating a boycott against the apartheid-torn country. Bob Geldof would later forgive them and invite Queen to perform at Live Aid, where their invigorating set was a highlight of the concerts. George Michael released " Last Christmas " around the same time. He gave all proceeds from the song to Geldof's relief effort. In 2003, Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno recorded a rock version of this song with the band Far for the A Santa Cause (It's A Punk Rock Christmas) compilation. The song spread thanks to peer-to-peer networks.

Do They Know It's Christmas? : Wikis (The Full Wiki) Midge Ure "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 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 29 November 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 saw the report and wanted to raise money. 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 of the era. The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK singles chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one , and sold more than 3.5 million copies domestically. [2] It remained the highest selling single in UK chart history until 1997, when Elton John 's " Candle in the Wind 1997 " was released in tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales , which sold almost 5 million copies in Britain. [2] Contents 9 External links Recording 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. On 25 November 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 leave 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 could not 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.

However, Quo were able to contribute in other ways, according to the journalist Robin Eggar: [3] "Once Status Quo produced their bag of cocaine and the booze started to flow – I brought six bottles of wine from my flat, which disappeared in a minute – it became a party." Boy George arrived at 6 pm and went straight into the recording booth to deliver his lines. Boy George was rather vocal in his dislike of fellow singer George Michael, some of which is caught on video during the filming of the Band Aid collaboration. While recording harmonies, Boy George openly confused Michael's recorded vocals with the voice of "Alf" (British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet , who did not participate in the charity single). When the engineer correctly identified the voice as that of Michael, Boy George replied, "God, he sounded camp . But then he is." Once Boy George had finished his tracks, 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 , Paul McCartney , all members of Big Country and Holly Johnson from 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 Tuesday. A spell of publicity and final legal details followed, then it hit the shops on Thursday 29 November in a sleeve designed by Peter Blake . It went straight to #1.

Advertisements Mark Brzezicki ( Big Country ) 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. 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 in 1985. See the Band Aid article for the full list of contributors. 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 was 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 program 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 3 December 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.

During the release of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", while he was at Number 1 in the charts, singer/songwriter Jim Diamond publicly pleaded with people not to buy his own single " I Should Have Known Better " that week, and urged them to instead buy "Do They Know It's Christmas?". He was quoted as saying "I'm delighted to be at number 1, but next week I don't want people to buy my record; I want them to buy Band Aid instead." [4] 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 wasn'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 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 U.S.

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 due to a lack of airplay, ultimately peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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. 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 singles chart history. It has since been passed by Elton John 's tribute to Diana , Princess of Wales , " Candle in the Wind 1997 ".

[2] Eventually, the British-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. In 2001, the song was included on the Now That's What I Call Christmas! CD, along with 35 other popular Christmas songs, many by the original artists who made them famous. Those artists (or their legal heirs) who participated on the CD received a platinum album for their contributions to its success (certified 6x Platinum in November 2004).

Band Aid II Stock Aitken Waterman 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 Sarah Dallin and Keren Woodward 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 and also making it the final number-one single of the 1980s and it was final song to be played on Top of the Pops in the Eighties, whom of it was the original version of the song. Band Aid 20 Nigel Godrich 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 (some of the artists weren't born when the original was recorded) 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, making him the third artist to appear on two versions, except for Geldof and Ure. While the 1989 and 2004 versions of Do They Know It's Christmas had notable chart success (despite both being criticized for their very "pop" oriented sound which lacked the earnestness of the original recording), the popularity of the 1984 recording has remained unmatched and the record has seen numerous re-releases in small numbers around Christmas over the years. Other versions and parodies In 2005, a "benefit spoof" of this song was released by "The North American Halloween Prevention Initiative" made up of a wide variety of indie artists. The proceeds of the single titled " Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?

" were donated to UNICEF. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this into a Lounge style song on their 2006 album, " Silent Nightclub ". In 2004, the Swedish singer Shirley Clamp recorded a cover of the song with a schlager rhythm that sold very well in Sweden. It's still being sold in stores and it is a very popular Christmas song. 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 two Polish versions of that song, both called "Daj im znak", which means "give them a sign." One is recorded by Cugowski Brothers, Maciej Silski , and Grzegorz Markowski (Perfect), and the other Magda Rzemek, Cugowski brothers (Bracia), and Artur Gadowski (IRA). Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano ; Italian choir of children, also has been performing it occasionally.

Their first time was in 2003 , at the annual Christmas Concert. It has also appeared twice on their Christmas albums. In Japan, since 2003, an interlude of this song was used as a chime in the Super express Kodama and Hikari running Tokaido Shinkansen . In 2003, the Germany's TV AllStars released a version of the song . At Christmas 2004, Conan O'Brien of Late Night with Conan O'Brien did a segment on his show that 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 . [5] In 2002, Pulp did a parody of the song in the video for their single " Bad Cover Version " that featured impersonators dressed as many of the same artists from the original song.

In 2009, Toronto punk rock band Fucked Up released a version of the song, featuring vocals from GZA , Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend , Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü , Tegan and Sara , Yo La Tengo , Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene , comedian David Cross , Andrew W.K. and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio . The recording was financed using some of Fucked Up's 2009 Polaris Music Prize award. The money received from purchasing the track off of iTunes was split between three Canadian charity groups, Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, DTES Power of Women Group, and Sisters in Spirit, all advocates against violence against women . [6] Also in 2009, Comedy Death-Ray released a Christmas album with a version of the song, performed by "The Comedy Death-Ray Xmas Nativity Choir" featuring Patton Oswalt , "Weird Al" Yankovic , Rob Huebel , Ed Helms and many more comedians.

See also Do They Know It's Christmas was worst song in the world, admits Bob Geldof Do They Know It's Christmas was worst song in the world, admits Bob Geldof Daily Mail ^ | 11/30/2010 | Simon Cable Posted on 11/30/2010 7:40:39 AM PST by SeekAndFind If you havent heard a rendition of Do They Know Its Christmas yet this year, its only a matter of time. But should you curse Bob Geldof for writing That Song, youll be in good company. Hes fed up with it too. The single was released 26 years ago today as Geldof set up Band Aid to raise money for famine-hit Ethiopia. And although it became the biggest selling single in the world at the time, it seems hes had enough. He said: I am responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is Do They Know Its Christmas? and the other one is We Are The World. 'Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing.

Every ****ing Christmas. He said carol singers also include it in their repertoire when they visit his South London home each year, alongside the more traditional Silent Night. The former Boomtown Rats frontman, 59, added: Sometimes I think thats wild because I wrote it. Or else I am thinking how much I want them to stop because they are doing it really badly. Geldof co-wrote the song with singer Midge Ure. The campaign, which went on to raise more than £100million, was inspired by Michael Buerks BBC news report on Ethiopias famine. Musicians including Sting, Bono, George Michael and Phil Collins sang on the Band Aid track. Its success led to the release of U.S. charity single We Are the World months later. (Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ... [ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind Do They Know it’s X-Mas was not even as bad as that piece of crap—We Are The World...Now that was a dreadful song.

To: SeekAndFind No, that would be John Lennon's "Imagine." 3 posted on 11/30/2010 7:43:55 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.) To: SeekAndFind You they are full of sh*t when they use false modesty. Ego is their supreme virtue. [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind You know they are full of sh*t when they use false modesty. Ego is their supreme virtue. [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind He’s understandably sick of it, but I think it’s a great song (but with some iffy turns of phrase). I can’t stand “We are the World” though. 6 posted on 11/30/2010 7:46:35 AM PST by Catphish He's wrong. The worst song in the world is "Philosophy Of The World" by The Shaggs.

"Do They Know It's Christmas" is in 2nd place. 7 posted on 11/30/2010 7:46:35 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.) On the other hand, “I Don’t Like Mondays” is a great song. 8 posted on 11/30/2010 7:46:41 AM PST by ClearCase_guy The worst Christmas Song Ever is “Step Into Christmas” by Elton John. 9 posted on 11/30/2010 7:49:09 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality. Save America From Bankruptcy.) To: Le Chien Rouge We Are The World...Now that was a dreadful song. As terrible as the song was, at least Do They Know its Christmas was an original idea. 10 posted on 11/30/2010 7:49:09 AM PST by skeeter Worst song ever is “Drop the Pilot” by Joan Armitrading.

11 posted on 11/30/2010 7:49:16 AM PST by albie To: SeekAndFind "There's a world outside your window, and its a world of dread and fear" I guess that is what Geldof thinks when the carolers come to sing on his lawn. 12 posted on 11/30/2010 7:50:29 AM PST by LukeL (Barack Obama: Jimmy Carter 2 Electric Boogaloo) No, that would be John Lennon's "Imagine." AMEN! Worst piece of tripe ever written! 13 posted on 11/30/2010 7:51:45 AM PST by MissTed [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies ] To: albie Worst performance ever is “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” played by a Mariachi band of no particular merit. The horns are tuned sharp and it is enough to make your ears bleed. It plays every year in Houston on the radio stations and it is horrible...and yet I am strangly drawn to it ........

14 posted on 11/30/2010 7:53:09 AM PST by texmexis best (`) “Imagine” is the worst song ever written. Laughably bad. In a class by itself. “We are the world” is second. “It’s small world” is also second. A tie for awfulage. 15 posted on 11/30/2010 7:56:01 AM PST by texmexis best (`) To: MissTed No, that would be John Lennon's "Imagine". And yet, it is still the last song played over the loudspeakers before midnight in Times Square on New Year's Eve. 16 posted on 11/30/2010 7:56:38 AM PST by hoagy62 (.) Comment #17 Removed by Moderator To: SeekAndFind; All People! People! People! We need not be arguing over which song is the worst... they can ALL be the worst!

18 posted on 11/30/2010 7:59:15 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind “so ya, thought ya, might like to...” make an awesome movie with Pink Floyd. Happy to see you saw your shitty stuff as shit. Rock n roll is real, pop is slop. Bob will always be Pinkerton!!! 19 posted on 11/30/2010 8:01:25 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.) To: SeekAndFind Oh, and shave off your other nipple to make amends. :) 20 posted on 11/30/2010 8:02:28 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal.

For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.) On the other hand, I Dont Like Mondays is a great song. Agree!! [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ] To: Le Chien Rouge Just did a quick "hear" on that " Do They Know Its Christmas?" and suddenly realized I'd never thought of it as a song even! It's still not a song no matter how many times Geldof says it is. His judgment in the matter is impaired. 22 posted on 11/30/2010 8:21:26 AM PST by muawiyah (GIT OUT THE WAY ~ REPUBLICANS COMIN' THROUGH) Here are some of the words, these sung by uberlib Bono. “And there won’t be snow in Africa this christmas time The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life” “Where nothing ever grows No rain or rivers flow” “Do they know it’s christmas time at all?” I have to believe that since this is Africa where a large majority of the inhabitants of that continent are Mooselums, they don’t really care if it’s Christmas.

What a stupid song by a bunch of starry eyed, shrill voiced libs. 23 posted on 11/30/2010 8:31:45 AM PST by GoreFreeTN (Keep the change, I want my dollars back.) To: SeekAndFind No! No! No! That wretched little ditty penned by John Lennon - “So This is Christmas” is the absloute worst holiday dreck produced by the mind of man. It’s a vomitous little harangue to Christians intended to make them feel guilty for celebrating their faith and the birth of our Lord and Saviour. It’s typical liberal white guilt writ large. 25 posted on 11/30/2010 8:41:57 AM PST by Buckeye Battle Cry (Conservatives want a CHOICE not an echo - No more RINOs!) To: SeekAndFind Some of my candidates for the worst song of all time: [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ] To: paulycy I think the worst is “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, though I have not heard this Elton John tune that I am aware of.

27 posted on 11/30/2010 8:42:57 AM PST by day10 (Integrity has no need of rules.) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind No, the worst song in the world is Mr Roboto, followed closely by the video of Mr Roboto. 28 posted on 11/30/2010 8:44:39 AM PST by InvisibleChurch (Stimulus ~ Response / "...and that's why the color yellow makes me sad, I think.") [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ] To: GoreFreeTN Have worked at a college radio station for yrs and in the past we played a 12” single version of it which had an extended mix on the back. At least it was diff. from the version most people hear; various music celebs say hi during the instrumental break incl. Paul McCartney (”sorry i can’t be here today”), David Bowie (intoning a serious message about hunger) and Stu Adamson from Big Country. John Taylor from Duran Duran, etc. At the end of the inst.

break Geldof is heard saying what day and time it was, “we’ve been here 24 hours and it’s time to go home now” before they all leap back in with 1! 2! 1, 2, 3, 4, FEED THE WORLD....” Because everything’s on Youtube: For some reason the DJ at my sister’s wedding reception figured we should all join hands and sing along with “we are the world...” Novelty song spoof: “We are the worms, out on the sidewalk/ We are the ones who make a squishy sound, so watch where you walk. There’s a chance we’re taking...” 29 posted on 11/30/2010 8:48:45 AM PST by raccoonradio [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies ] To: Buckeye Battle Cry That wretched little ditty penned by John Lennon - So This is Christmas is the absolute worst holiday dreck Agree 100% ---- I hate that song !!! The station cannot be turned fast enough when I hear that abomination comes on.

30 posted on 11/30/2010 8:49:09 AM PST by coder2 I think the worst is Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney Well now, I could consider a tie vote. That is also one horrific Christmas tune. 31 posted on 11/30/2010 8:51:53 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality. Save America From Bankruptcy.) But the debts have not been paid. In Africa, they welch on us, So let’s have them flayed. When it comes time for spending, We can ill afford the dough; Get your hands around their throats, And strangle them! They are the evil ones. For their people, it’s hard; Tyrants have all the guns. There’s a lake outside of Heaven And it’s prepared for racketeers Who keep our foreign aid flowing while They shed crocodile tears. And the raging fire that burns there Is prepared for singers too; Keep provoking God, He might be damning you. So ignore Geldorf and all This stupid Live 8 tripe; Let’s stuff a nuke Up Mugabe’s tailpipe.

And the blood like water flows. Let’s rake all these jerks across the coals! To U2, send them coal for being dumb, Mugabe, here’s a bomb for you, you scum! Let’s rake all these jerks across the coals! [A brief and crummy instrumental follows.] “OK, well this is Bono here, the old white guy from U2 ostentatiously denouncing war and poverty and hunger again. What a wonderful person I am!” “Hello, this is Michael Jackson. I’m sorry I can’t be with you this time, kids. Hee hee hee!” “Hi, this is Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. Our group’s album sales are way up. Keep your hands off our stack, Jack!” “I’m Slash from Velvet Revolver. We’re all old white guys too, Bono.” “Hello, this is Youssou N’Dour. I am the only actual African man here. Do you people even know who I am? There is nothing we can do for you, my African brothers. You are hosed.” “Hello, hello, this is Elton John. I’m being a jerk. Like, I am so drunk!

Hello, this is Elton John. Hello, this is Elton John. I’m being a jerk. Like, I am so drunk! Uh, what am I saying? Whatever. I’m gay!” “This is Joss Stone. I’m not a Spears clone, I swear! Did you know that under Mugabe, millions of people in Zimbabwe are starving? We’re not going to do anything about it, though.” “This is Chris Martin from Coldplay. I am a sensitive rock star. My songs are important. I have an incredible talent: I can walk backwards. Buy our albums, you fat greedy American capitalists!” “Hello, this is Tom Chaplin from Keane. Please buy our albums. Please.” “This is Francis Healy from Travis. Buy our albums!” “Hello, I’m Madonna. Are you [bleep]ing ready, London!?” “Hello, I’m Ms. Dynamite. I’m [bleep]ing ready, Madonna!” “We Scissor Sisters are [bleep]ing ready for anything, Madonna.” “Yo, this is Snoop Doggy Dogg! Buy me, you Union Jack-offs!

I need a big booty ho and some bling bling.” “I’m Annie Lennox. Next concert, I swear we’re going to have some live cows right up on the stage with us. Don’t ask why.” “This is Robbie Williams, and I need a new gig, so please watch me at Live 8. Come on, girls, am I sexy or what?” “This is Sting. Christmas comes in July this year. Suicide bombers love their children too. Please give a thought to all of us washed-up old white guys and buy our albums, however crappy, to keep our cocaine supplies steady. Cheerio!” “This song was never recorded at all because it’s just a silly parody. It’s now 9:20 in the morning of July 12th. The death count from the terrorist attacks here in London currently stands at 52. Now, stop paying attention to important things, and pay attention to us instead. I’m Bob Geldorf. If you give each of us a million dollars, maybe we’ll finally shut up and retire. Think about that. Bye.” Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks!

Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed the jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! Bleed those jerks! Rake them all across the coals this time! [etc.]

Question: The first line of the song Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid was originally intended for which singer, who finally got to sing it during Live Aid?
Answer: David Bowie