Plácido Oliveira Video Blog

Turn off the lights

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas 1984 Participants The original Band Aid ensemble consisted of (in sleeve order): Adam Clayton (U2) Phil Collins (Genesis, solo) Bob Geldof (The 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 (The Boomtown Rats) Marilyn Keren (Bananarama) Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet) Jody Watley (Shalamar) Bono (U2) Paul Weller (The Style Council) James Taylor (Kool & The Gang) Peter Blake (credited as 'sleeve artist') George Michael (Wham!) Midge Ure (Ultravox) Martyn Ware (Heaven 17) John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet) Roger Taylor (Duran Duran) Sara (Bananarama) Siobhan (Bananarama) Russell Mael (Sparks) Ron Mael (Sparks) Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats) Francis Rossi (Status Quo) Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang) Dennis Thomas (Kool & the Gang) Robert Smith (The Cure) Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) Jon Moss (Culture Club) Sting (The Police) Freddie Mercury (Queen) Roger Taylor (Queen) Brian May (Queen) John Deacon (Queen) Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats) Boy George (Culture Club) Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings) David Bowie Big Country Band Aid 30 - Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2014) Organisers and producers Bob Geldof – organiser Midge Ure – organiser Paul Epworth – producer Instruments Roger Taylor (from Queen) – drums, keyboards Milan Neil Amin-Smith (from Clean Bandit) – violin Grace Chatto (from Clean Bandit) – cello Vocals Bono (from U2) Clean Bandit Paloma Faith Guy Garvey (from Elbow) Ellie Goulding Angélique Kidjo Chris Martin (from Coldplay) Sinéad O'Connor One Direction Rita Ora Olly Murs Emeli Sandé Seal Ed Sheeran Dan Smith (from Bastille) Sam Smith Underworld Jessie Ware Lyrics 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 to 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 Oh, where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow Do they know it's Christmastime at all? Here's to you, raise a glass for ev'ryone 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 Feed the world Let them know it's Christmastime Songwriters: URE, MIDGE / GELDOF, BOB Do They Know It's Christmas lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. The original 1984 Feed the world logo was designed by Phil Smee of Waldo's Design, who designed all the Ads prior to the event being announced. Geldof was so moved by the plight of starving children that he decided to try to raise money using his contacts in pop music. Geldof enlisted the help of Midge Ure, from the group Ultravox, to help produce a charity record. Ure took Geldof's lyrics, and created the melody and backing track for the record. Geldof called many of the most popular British and Irish performers of the time (Kool & The Gang, Jody Watley and Sparks were the only Americans present at the original recording), persuading them to give their time free. His one criterion for selection was how famous they were, in order to maximise sales of the record. He then kept an appointment to appear on a show on BBC Radio 1, with Richard Skinner, but instead of promoting the new Boomtown Rats material as planned, he announced the plan for Band Aid. The recording studio gave Band Aid no more than 24 free hours to record and mix the record, on 25 November 1984. The recording took place at SARM Studios in Notting Hill between 11am and 7pm, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick to be released as the pop video though some basic tracks had been recorded the day before at Midge Ure's home studio. The first tracks to be recorded were the group / choir choruses which were filmed by the international press. The footage was rushed to newsrooms where it aired while the remainder of the recording process continued. Later, drums by Phil Collins were recorded. The introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears for Fears' track called "The Hurting", released in 1983. Tony Hadley, of Spandau Ballet, was the first to record his vocal, while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable, and replaced with section comprising Paul Weller, Sting, and Glenn Gregory, from Heaven 17. Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran sang between contributions from George Michael and Sting. Paul Young has since admitted, in a documentary, that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie, who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the B-side (Bowie performed his lines at the Live Aid concert the following year). Boy George arrived last at 6pm, after Geldof woke him up by phone to have him flown over from New York on Concorde to record his solo part. (At the time, Culture Club was in the middle of a US tour.) Feed The World logo designed by Markus Newman The following morning, Geldof appeared on the Radio 1 breakfast show with Mike Read, to promote the record further and promise that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government, who refused to waive the VAT 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. The record was released on November 29, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart, 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 copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks, selling over three million copies and becoming easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, thus beating the seven-year record held by Mull of Kintyre. It has since been surpassed by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" (his tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales) but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come. In 1986 the original music video from "Do They Know It's Christmas?" received Band Aid a Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form. After Live Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was re-released in late 1985 in a set that included a special-edition 'picture disc' version, modelled after the Live Aid logo with 'Band' in place of 'Live'. An added bonus, "One Year On" (a statement from Geldof and Ure on the telephone) was available as a b-side. "One Year On" can also be found in transcript form in a booklet which was included in the DVD set of Live Aid, the first disc of which features the BBC news report, as well as the Band Aid video. Live Aid inspired a number of charity events, such as Media Aid that raised money for Save the Children.