I know I've written about this before.  In fact, it was this particular Christmas song that I wrote about and because I'm writing about it 10 years later can only mean that it bothered me enough to put the effort in for a second round of bitching about a song that many love.

"Do They Know It's Christmas Time"

Today is December 4th and this is the time when we begin to hear Christmas songs.  There are a handful of ones that make me turn the channel on the radio faster than others.  Most are from Mariah Carey, one is from Madonna, and the worst....Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas Time".  But because I work in radio...I listen.  And because I remembered hating that song so much, I listened even closer.

Here is the original version:

Paul Young
It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid  (Except of my bank account)
At Christmas time
We let in light and we banish shade

Boy George
And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas time

George Michael
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmas time it's hard

(See here...here it is a little confusing because one minute we're praying for the other ones and that Christmas tine is hard.  But right after that, we're having fun (see below).

Simon LeBon (Duran Duran)
But when you're having fun
There's a world outside your windowAnd it's a world of dread and fear

(I'm not trying to seem cold hearted because I'm a pretty empathetic person, but when I listen to Christmas music and I want to get in the spirit of things, "dread and fear" are not words I associate with.

Sting
Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
(Are you sure, Sting?  Are you sure that's the only water?  Have you looked at the map of Africa?)


Bono & Sting
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
(What does that sound like?  Chimes of doom.  Hmm.  Chimes. Of. Doom.  No idea - but I think I don't like that).

Bono
Well tonight thank God it's them
Instead of you
(You know, Bono - I love U2 but this both shocked me but also cracked me up.  You nailed it.  Thank god it's them instead of you...well, yeah.  But don't you think this is an aggressively shitty and self serving thing to say?  I can answer that.  Yes.

Boy George & Others
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life(Oooh)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
(There is a ski resort in Drakensberg called the Tiffendel Resort.  Whoops!  It also snows in the Atlas Mountains.  Nothing ever grows.  How is there ANY life there on the continent?  I mean, the whole song is about Africa, not a particular country in Africa, right?  No?  Oh.  Central parts of Africa have accumulations of rain that can exceed that of parts of Scotland, you know, because of their rain forests. So...things grow...in RAIN FORESTS.



"No rivers flow" - The Nile located in Egypt in AFRICA.  The Nile is just the longest flowing river in the world.  But who's checking?  Not these writers.  I am.

Marilyn & Glenn Gregory
Here's to you

Paul Young
Raise a glass for everyone

Marilyn & Glenn Gregory
Here's to them

Paul Young, Marilyn & Glenn Gregory         
Underneath the burning sun

Do they know it's Christmas time at all

(Do the writers know they're all Christians??  I'm going to take a wild guess that they don't know...because less than 50% actually are)

Chorus: All
Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

They're singing about a continent.  You know that Africa isn't a country, right?  Surprise!  It isn't.  The time the song was written, it was about the starvation that was going on in Ethiopia.  But who needs to know specifics?  Growing up, I assumed all of Africa was Ethiopia.  At the time, something needed to be done to help, but the song was not the answer.  Sorry, folks.
Also...the chorus finishes with "Feed the world"...well?  Ethiopia or the world.  I'm confused.

Again, I don't want to seem like I'm heartless or whatever, but I know I'm not the only one that has noticed the incorrectness of this song.  In fact, I was looking up the song and found that there is a newer version (where Bono doesn't make us all feel like shit for being thankful it's the people in Ethiopia starving instead of us - making it less traumatizing).  So there it is.

Merry Christmas and God Bless Us, Everyone.