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.....

No internet back then. You only saw what was on TV and that was starving babies and children. At the time the lyrics were not that bad because it matched what we saw on television.

But how much of all that money has got anywhere near the people that needed it to help them i wonder

I am sure that some people back then realised that the drought was in Ethiopia and that there would be Christmas in Africa, that the waters would flow etc.

We didn't just rely on TV for our knowledge.

Africa is a whole continent! What is wrong with you?? You think a song like this would work about Europe because of a war??? I doubt it very much.
The song is awfully patronising but I can imagine the type of people who think its fine 🙄

I don't think they are problematic.
It's a song about thinking about others.
No song lyrics are meant to be read and dissected.
It's a tune about starving babies.
And it changed the life chances of kids in Ethiopia in the 80s.

Some poster are asking where the monies raised went, I don't think anybody really knows where it all went but I can say that a great deal of the money went into Ethiopia. The despised western world help was far more evident than any African help and this song funded a great deal of that help.

It bought food, medicines, at least one mobile hospital plus people needed to manage the situation, specialists in their fields and much more. It paid for transport of the goods and people.

The governments of UK, Germany and Poland sent Transport Aircraft, Vehicles and Personnel to help with the distribution of the Aid funded by the Band Aid song.

May be others Governments helped too but they weren't visible in my time in Addis Ababa . Russians aircraft were there moving people around so a different focus.

SOS Villages and other NGO's were there doing what they could. Strangely there didn't seem to be much evidence of help from other African Nations.

I wasn't there for the whole of the time but I was there for Christmas 1985 and the difference in a year was very evident.

While it's not clear if Charity in any of it's forms has any long term benefits the benefits of this patronising song by a bunch of do gooders was clear to see At The Time.

And if it offends anyone that's just too bad.

I cry when I hear it, I can see the sights, small the smells and I sometime do want to say to people with first world problems - thank god it is them instead of you - because you really don't want to know how truly distressing being there was.

I’m the same, which is unlike me. I just find the whole song quite cringey.

He won custody against the wishes of the Hutchence family who rarely saw her again, I believe 😡

Better to be with her sisters .

And have no relationship with the other 50 percent of her family?
Geldof admitted that as teenagers the girls were left to their own devices and look what happened to Peaches.
Another two little ones left without a mother

Really!? My recollection of that time and event was that the funds were being used directly to support thousands of people in Ethiopia at the time

I always thought the "snow in Africa " lyric was stupid TBH, but it was what it was and of it it's time. It was more about making you think of others not just yourself.

What do you mean "of its time?"

People did realise that there was snow in parts of Africa in winter. Even in 1984

This is exactly how I’ve always interpreted it.

Yes, iffy in hindsight but it was well-intentioned and raised money, at speed.

The disingenuous misinterpretations some are claiming are ridiculous.

The idea of lumping all African countries in together has always irritated me but seeking to be offended is pointless.

Hopefully people are more aware now, and would comment differently but there are bigger issues to be offended by or upset about now.

Your geography is shit.

In case you are confused, that huge continent is Africa and is comprised of 54 countries.

Also, Ethiopia is north of the equator.

I always took the line "thank god its them instead of you" to be a bit of a dig at all of us overindulging at Christmas and embracing consumerism whilst watching people in Africa starving on the news. I never thought they were seriously telling us to thank god Ethiopians were starving instead of us.

That’s because you have the ability to infer meaning @Aurora39 and unfortunately some people don’t.

The song is obviously hastily written nonsense by people who know absolutely nothing about Africa or Ethiopia.

Unfortunately Geldof's ignorance and stupidity didn't end there. He handed huge amounts of money over to Mengistu (the leader of the Derg, a military junta that ruled Ethiopia) who used it to lure people into aid stations and then 'resettle' 100's of thousands of them under brutal conditions killing them faster than the famine.

Most damningly, Keating reported that Geldof was warned, repeatedly, from the outset by several relief agencies in the field about Mengistu, who was dismantling tribes, mercilessly conducting resettlement marches on which 100,000 people died, and butchering helpless people. According to Medicins Sans Frontiers, who begged Geldof to not release the money until there was a reliable infrastructure to get it to victims, he simply ignored them, instead famously saying: “I’ll shake hands with the Devil on my left and on my right to get to the people we are meant to help.”

Geldof was more interested in being the hero of the hour than listening to people who knew what needed to be done.

That’s what we all understood it to mean.

Sadly, these days many people like to take the “holier than thou” approach and flaunt that they are right-on and offended.

It’s utterly pointless. The song meant well.

(Yes also pointless of me to try and explain but I am in bed with flu so not much else to do.)

Can't stand the song. Maybe it needs to be retired.

Must admit I can't stand the sanctimonious Geldof either. So it is quite funny that his song is no longer considered acceptable.

Listen it’s an iconic song from the 80s , a bloody amazing song don’t dis it or question it was before a snowflake pc society and I thank fuck I was brought up with it cause today u can’t say jack shit about anything and it’s all bollocks Thanku and have a good Christmas u filthy animals

Clearly the OP is a person under 30.

What’s that got to do with the song ?