Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musicians, in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" 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 by 1985. The song also reached number one in 13 other countries. In the US, it fell short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100, but sold an estimated 2.5 million copies by 1985. It had sold 11.7 million copies worldwide by 1989 and 3.8 million in the UK by 2017.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" raised £8 million for Ethiopia within a year, far exceeding Geldof's hopes. The success inspired other charity singles, such as "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, and charity events such as Comic Relief and the 1985 Live Aid concert. Some commentators argued that the lyrics were racist or demeaning towards Ethopians and misrepresented Africa. Ure said the song was secondary to the purpose of raising money for the cause.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was rerecorded and rereleased with different musicians in 1989, 2004 and 2014. The 1989 and 2004 versions also raised funds for famine relief, while the 2014 version raised funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. All three reached number one in the UK, and the 1989 and 2004 versions were Christmas number ones. The 2004 version sold 1.8 million copies. A new mix, combining elements of the previous versions, was released in 2024 for the 40th anniversary.
Background
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was inspired by a series of reports made by the BBC journalist Michael Buerk in 1984, which drew attention to the famine in Ethiopia. The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report on 23 October describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The report featured the nurse Claire Bertschinger, who had to choose which children would receive the limited amount of food and who were too sick to be saved. The reports shocked the UK, motivating the British people to inundate relief agencies, such as Save the Children, with donations. The Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and his partner, the television presenter Paula Yates, were deeply affected by the broadcast. Geldof said about Bertschinger: "In her was vested the power of life and death. She had become godlike, and that is unbearable for anyone."On 2 November, Yates was in the Tyne Tees studio in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she was presenting the weekly live music show The Tube. Among the acts performing were Ultravox, promoting their greatest hits album The Collection. The singer, Midge Ure, was chatting to Yates in the dressing room when Geldof called her. Geldof had worked with Ure at the 1981 charity benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball. Geldof asked to speak to Ure and told him that he wanted to do something to alleviate the suffering in Ethiopia. He and Ure arranged to discuss ideas over lunch the following Monday, 5 November, and decided to make a charity record.
Composition
Geldof's and Ure's biggest challenge was to write a song that could be recorded and released in time for Christmas. To avoid having to pay royalties, which would diminish the amount raised for charity, they wrote an original song rather than record a cover version. Ure wrote what he felt was a Christmas-like melody on a portable keyboard. He sent a tape to Geldof, who sarcastically told him that it sounded like the theme to the television series Z-Cars.Geldof came to Ure's house the next day and they worked on the song with Geldof on acoustic guitar. Geldof added lyrics based on a song he had originally written for the Boomtown Rats, which he had provisionally titled "It's My World". Ure recorded Geldof and his guitar and developed Geldof's ideas in his home studio, adding his own melody as a chorus. Ure was unable to improve on Geldof's lyrics, although he changed the line "And there won't be snow in Ethiopia this Christmas time" to "And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time", as Ure decided "Ethiopia" had too many syllables.
Geldof asked Trevor Horn to produce the song. Horn was an in-demand producer, having produced three number-one singles that year for Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He was receptive but said he would need at least six weeks, which would make it impossible to release by Christmas. However, he allowed the team to use his studios, Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, free for 24 hours on 25 November. Horn later remixed and co-produced the 12" version and remixed it for the 1985 rerelease.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" comprises a verse and bridge, which allow individual singers to perform different lines, and a chorus in the form of two repeated phrases performed by ensemble. The first line is sung by Paul Young on the 1984 version, Kylie Minogue on the 1989 version, Chris Martin of Coldplay on the 2004 version, and One Direction on the 2014 version. The opening line was sung by David Bowie at the Live Aid concert in 1985.
Artists
While Ure was creating the backing track, Geldof contacted various artists, hoping to have the biggest names in British and Irish music appear. Geldof recruited Spandau Ballet after a chance meeting with the band's guitarist Gary Kemp at an antiques shop in London. Geldof said: "It suddenly it hit me. I thought, 'Christ, we have got the real top boys here', all the big names in pop are suddenly ready and willing to do this... I knew then that we were off, and I just decided to go for all the rest of the faces and started to ring everyone up, asking them to do it."Members of the US group Kool & the Gang appeared because they were signed to the same record label as the Boomtown Rats, and happened to be visiting Phonogram's London offices on the day that Geldof proposed the single. Geldof invited Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of the band Status Quo, to take part. Although Status Quo were from a different musical background and era, he felt their fame and consistent success would add credibility and their large fanbase would add to the sales.
Geldof called Boy George, at the time one of the biggest music stars in the world, repeatedly in New York the day before the recording to insist that he attend. George took the last Concorde flight of the day and arrived at the studio at 6pm. He went immediately into the recording booth to deliver his lines, the last solo artist of the day. The singer Marilyn, who had achieved hit singles in 1983 but whose career had declined in 1984, arrived at the recording session uninvited, sensing an opportunity for publicity. Geldof and Ure felt any publicity was good and accepted him. Further phone calls from Geldof secured promises from all the musicians to contribute without payment.
Those who were unable to appear, such as David Bowie and Paul McCartney, sent recorded messages of support that appeared on the B-side. The Thompson Twins, who were out of the country instead donated part of the proceeds of their single "Lay Your Hands on Me" to the Action for Ethiopia charity. Geldof said only three people refused to be involved, but refused to disclose who. Other contributors included UK music magazines, which donated advertising space to promote the single; Geldof's record label, Phonogram, which released the single; their parent company, PolyGram, which distributed it; and the artist Peter Blake, who created the sleeve.
Recording
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was produced by Ure. He spent several days in his home studio with his engineer, Rik Walton, creating the backing track, programming the keyboards and drum machines. For the intro, he used a sample of the drums from the 1983 track "The Hurting" by Tears for Fears. John Taylor of Duran Duran and Paul Weller visited Ure's studio the day before the recording to add bass guitar and lead guitar. Ure and Weller later agreed that the guitar did not fit and did not use it. Ure sang the guide vocal, and Sting and Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran recorded their parts in Ure's studio.Geldof and Ure arrived at Sarm West Studios at around 8am on Sunday 25 November with the media in attendance outside. With recording scheduled to begin at 10:30am, the artists began arriving. Geldof gave the newspaper The Daily Mirror exclusive access in the studio, and had a group photograph taken by the newspaper's photographer Brian Aris before recording, knowing it would appear in the following day's edition and create publicity. The actor Nigel Planer, who had reached number two earlier in the year with a cover version of "Hole in My Shoe" in the guise of his character Neil from the sitcom The Young Ones, also arrived uninvited. He performed in character as Neil to the camera.
Ure played the backing track and guide vocals to the artists. As a way of having everyone involved immediately, he recorded the climax first. The artists were put in a group and sang the refrain "Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again" until it was complete. Ure chose Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet to be the first singer to record his solo part. Hadley said this was nerve-racking, knowing that his contemporaries were watching him. Ure recorded each singer one by one and made notes on which segments would be used. Le Bon, despite having already recorded his part at Ure's house, re-recorded it so he could be part of the moment. Sting also rerecorded his lyrics to provide harmony vocals. Geldof and Ure took part in the "feed the world" finale, but did not sing any solo lines. Ure wrote in his autobiography that he was constantly battling with Geldof, and telling him to leave when he would come into the production booth and wrongly tell artists what to sing.
Ure planned Rossi and Parfitt to sing the "here's to you" harmonies in the bridge, but Parfitt could not reach the high notes, and so the part was sung by Weller, Sting and Glenn Gregory. Rossi privately told Ure afterwards that he sang most of Status Quo's vocal parts and that Parfitt only usually sang onstage, and that Ure should have kept Parfitt away from the microphone. Parfitt said later that he and Rossi had been hungover, and were in no fit state to attempt to record their vocals. According to Robin Eggar, the only journalist present throughout the recording, Rossi and Parfitt supplied cocaine and the session "became a party".
Phil Collins arrived with his drum kit to record a live drum track on top of the drum machine. He set up the kit and waited until early evening, after all the vocals had been recorded. Ure was content with the first take, but Collins asked to record a second take, which he was satisfied with. Boy George, who arrived that evening from New York City, was the last to record his part.
Ure began working on the mix as the participants began to party in the studio. Horn produced a B-side, "Feed the World", using the instrumental track and featuring messages from artists who had been at the recording who had been unable to attend, including David Bowie, Paul McCartney, the members of Big Country and Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Before departing the Sarm Studio, Geldof recorded a statement which featured as the last message on "Feed the World":