[Music] Band Aid 40 years on

[Brovion]

The lyrics rather clumsily try to compare what was happening in Ethiopia with our comfortable Christmas. For me 'do they know it's Christmas time?' is more about pointing out that they have other things on their mind.


I always assumed the whole point of the Christmas references was to guilt people into buying or donating at a time of year they are celebrating. The' won't be snow in Africa this christmas' is written to highlight the difference between us and the people they are raising money for. This is more clumsily/directly stated in the much maligned line' thank God it's them instead of you'.

I know there is a lot said about the lyrics not having aged well but I think that in these contexts they make more sense and they certainly served their purpose at the time.

Yeah, I agree and I'd actually like to recant a bit on my first post. The lyrics might be clumsy inasmuch as they refer to 'Africa' rather than specifically the Eritrean province of Ethiopia (where the famine mainly was centered), but pedantically sneering at lines such as "Where nothing ever grows / Nor rain nor rivers flow" by saying that the writer was obviously unaware of geographical facts such as the source of the Nile, or agricultural facts like they grow yams in Ghana, or the details of the two rainy seasons in the Serengeti is a cheap shot IMO. It can, and should, be excused under the banner of 'poetic licence'; the song wasn't meant as a geography lesson. (And yes, they did know it was Christmas).

And, as I said before, at least they did something which is more than a lot of people have done, either before or since.

 

[Zeberdi]

21st Century Britain, always look for something to knock and be offended about, if there’s a chance of some racism arising, even better.

‘Political correctness’ or whatever we are wanting to call it, can have the effect of sensitising some people to what they need to be offended about - as @jcdenton08 avatar says, they are ‘offended sausages’ first and foremost, looking for a hook to hang their hats on.

It is often more knowledge/proximity of a topic that enlightens us and brings ‘offences’ to the fore. However, there are certain truths that have always been objectively acknowledged as unacceptable by at least a proportion of the population in every generation - racism (whether it took the form of slavery or abuse on the football terraces) is one of those issues.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

As Bob Geldof has said repeatedly 'It's just a f***ing song'.

 

[BadFish]

As Bob Geldof has said repeatedly 'It's just a f***ing song'.

Quite, next we'll find out that Vienna actually did mean something to midge ure. The lying bastard.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Quite, next we'll find out that Vienna actually did mean something to midge ure. The lying bastard.

And Brenda Spencer was actually indifferent towards Mondays.