[This is a repost from last year. Happy holidays, all! ]
Okay, there's actually a small handful of good holiday songs and the rest should be candy caned to death. (The rest will be revealed at the end of the piece. Don't peak.)
Do They Know it's Christmas is a song that continues to warm the cockles of this holiday-hardened heart, even though the key player behind it considers it one of the "worst songs in history."
Do They Know it's Christmas was written in 1984 by the eminently grouchy Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Some of the top musicians of the day were recruited and the song was recorded within a 24-hour period. It quickly went on to becoming the biggest selling single in UK singles chart history until 1997.
The Extended Version:
Not everyone is a fan of this Christmas tune, including Geldof himself:
"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," Geldolf tells Australia's Daily Telegraph. "Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing. Every fucking Christmas."Singer Morrissey critiques the song with an even sharper blade:
"I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of Great Britain. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music."Regardless of what one thinks of Geldof or this holiday tune, its creation marked a critical moment in music history: celebrities realized the potential of gathering collectively and leveraging their fame for global attention and substantial social change.
Some notes about the recording (a la Wikipedia):
- The introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears for Fear's track called "The Hurting".
- Paul Young has since admitted that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie who was not able to make the recording. Bowie later sang the opening at the Live Aid concert in July 1985. [Well, good - Young is my favorite in this song.]
- Ure sought a volunteer to be first into the studio to sing the main body of the song. Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet took the plunge, with plenty of rival artists watching him, and sang the song straight through.
- Despite being singers themselves, neither Geldof nor Ure had a solo line on the song, though both took part in the 'Feed the world' finale.
- Ure states 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 the band Status Quo to record the "here's to you" harmonies because Parfitt could not hit the note.
- Status Quo contributed in other ways.
According to the journalist Robin Eggar "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."
- 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.
Bono discusses his section of the song:
If you made it this far, here are the only other holiday tunes I like...guess I'm not as much a grinch as I thought.
2. Carol of the Bells - I've listened to countless versions of this tune. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is still the best. What a build!
3. One of Vince Guaraldi's tune from A Charlie Brown Christmas, released in 1965 as the soundtrack the CBS television special of the same name. It remains one of the most popular Christmas music albums of all time.
4. Oh Holy Night - Celine Dion does one of the best versions of this tune, me thinketh. If you don't believe me, cut to 3:20.
5. Blow thou Winter Wind - John Rutter's haunting holiday song as performed by his Cambridge Singers.
Happy Holidays, Open Salon!
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Margaret Hawke
500words
Beth Winegarner
BellemeadeBooks
Are You Talking French?
Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman
Salon.com
Comments
Beth: Celine? reallllly??
As pointed out by music critic Dave Marsh, for every shipment that the oppressors of Ethiopia turned away, the Ethiopian government turned away one as well. It was the first real indication that no matter how dedicated people of liberal/progressive inclinations might be, they are still the bitches of Dick Cheney, Kim Jung Il and their whole band.
And as for "We Are The World," the egos were not checked at the door. Certainly not Michael Jackson, who grabbed the only real solo spot in that song. He was clearly by himself, not with the other performers. Bette Midler talked about this in her album, "Mud Will Be Thrown Tonight."
It was written in 1943 and was understood then to be a musical letter home to his family from a G.I. serving overseas The song's poignance, what takes it out of the realm of sentimentality and into the realm of understated artistry, lies in the last, melncholy line "I'll be home for Christmas / if only in my dreams."
"Mary's Boy Child" by Boney M.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Karen Carpenter.
And -- don't laugh -- "The Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby and David Bowie.
Yes, I know, Bing was a scumbag, but this song proves he did one thing to justify his existence.