I never look for offense, but "Do They Know its Christmas Tume" lyrics...

[SecondUsername4me]

I mean, it's a bit iffy right?

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time,The greatest gift they'll get this year is life

The whole of Africa?

Where the only water flowing, Is the bitter sting of tears

On the whole continent?

Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

Err.....

The threat of nuclear war? Quite so, if that's what you meant. I was 16 at the time and didn't properly realise how bad things were until I was older. shivers

Not, too busy trying not to die to realise it was Xmas

Yeah could not listen to the lyrics this year, very patronising. Can someone change the words please as the music is lovely.

Isn’t the ‘do they know it’s Christmas time’ line supposed to be a poetic way of saying ‘are they going to be able to celebrate / feel festive given the horrendous plight they’re in?’ Rather than projecting an image of the African people at large not having access to a calendar, or being Christian?

appreciate the lines might need thinking about rather than taking at total face value, but I don’t think the intent from Geldof and Ure was supposed to be patronising so…maybe give them the benefit of the doubt?

In the context of the times it is fine and that is all

Yes. It was the Christmas number 1 in 1984, then again on 2004.

Then iirc there was a terrible version for ebola, and again for covid.

I was listening to this the other day in the car, turned loud, singing away but was actually listening to the words as I sang and thought WTF??

Yep, I'd never noticed the lyrics before, I tend to often singalong to songs without processing what the actual words are and any meaning they have. I think I'll take more notice now.

Ridiculous answer. Almost as silly as the original post I responded to.

There have been Christians in Ethiopia for far longer than they've been in the UK, and well over a thousand years longer than they've been in the USA.

The lyrics are mostly terrible nonsense. I actually think 'well tonight thank god it's them instead of you' is the only powerful and true bit in the whole song

It's a song written for a particular place and time. Everyone who heard that song when it came out knew what it was talking about, so no, it wasn't "problematic". All books and songs are written for a particular audience, and sometimes with things written in the past, or in a different place, we need to step out of our ourselves a bit and see them through the eyes of the intended audience.

I find it odd that so many people now are so sure that others are narrow minded when they can't even be bothered to attempt the most basic example of understanding other people.

It was odd at the time too.

Anyone remember We Are The World? It was kind of like the American sister effort to this one.

This is totally not the point, it's not a religious comment.

It's the same as saying, look at that poor homeless guy in a tent in a city with no Christmas dinner or presents and no one is noticing him, what can Christmas even mean to someone in that situation.

It's intended to motivate the listener to take action by donating.

Exactly!!

@Fynetanksfather
You may be surprised to know that Bono had nothing to do with this song.
It was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

I thought the “well tonight thank god it’s them instead of you” was meant to be controversial. It was intended for people to feel uncomfortable about their own fortune and to donate money as a result.

We had moved on a bit in our thinking in 1984.

🤷🏻

Yes. It's mad isn't it. That you can't even figure out that Bono is a completely different person to Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

😂😂😂

You're easily amused. Even back when you were in Africa.

Spot on. I got the single in my christmas stocking that year and it's as much a part of the season now as Noddy Holder and brussels sprouts. Anyone whinging is an embarrassment.

Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

Err.....

it means count yourself lucky it’s not you as it could be anyone surely?!

An interesting view here

People shocked by 'Do they know it's Christmas' lyrics (joe.co.uk)

"Actress Kelechi Kelechnekoff had previously spoken on the topic in a lengthy Twitter thread.
“Well yes motherfuckers. We do know it’s Christmas due to a little thing called colonisation, we know more than we’d care to,” she said

Dr Asher Larmie further expanded on Rao’s point, noting that: “Feed the world is an extremely racist song that needs to be banned from radio play. There. I said it.
He continued: “And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time. The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life. Where nothing ever grows. No rain nor rivers flow…’ Are you kidding me with this s**t? Do you own a map? There are seven major rivers in Africa.
“Nothing ever grows? Watch a wildlife documentary. There won’t be snow in England either. And I’m sure a lot of African kids will tell you the greatest gift they’ll get is a PlayStation 5.
“Because Africa is not a continent filled with mud huts and starving children. The fact that a group of white people wrote a song with lyrics like ‘Pray for the other ones’, ‘give a little help to the helpless’ and ‘feed the world’ is bad enough. Playing it all these years later?”

I don't know if there was a reaction to the lyrics back in 1984. But I do know that a lot of people bought the single in reaction to the intention behind the campaign.