Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

427 replies

SecondUsername4me · 23/12/2023 20:41

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.....

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
DuesToTheDirt · 23/12/2023 21:06

@JanglingJack What happened at the time seemed massive. I'm not sure anybody really disected words in songs - see Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Oh we certainly did dissect lyrics. Those were the pre-internet days, when most song lyrics were not widely available, and we'd sit playing songs over and over to catch the words and write them out.

pictoosh · 23/12/2023 21:06

DuesToTheDirt · 23/12/2023 21:03

I've also always thought that the tune was dirgy and it just wasn't appealing musically. Songs with so many different singers can't play to their strengths.

Yep. It's just a terrible song.

MrsTerryPratchett · 23/12/2023 21:07

I think you're missing the point @JanglingJack

The idea was if you were in your happy home, having a lovely Christmas, the line was supposed to make you feel really uncomfortable. It was supposed to make you feel horrible, and therefore give.

It wasn't literally going, "oh, I'm glad they're starving". It's emotive language to elicit action, not a direct quote of people's thoughts.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 23/12/2023 21:07

As a slight aside 'I believe in Father Christmas' by Greg Lake was actually written in protest at the commercialisation of Christmas.

...
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
'Til I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in father Christmas
I looked to the sky with excited eyes
That I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell
The Christmas we get we deserve

AllIsCalmButImNotBright · 23/12/2023 21:08

@Sk8erboi
While some of the lyrics are a bit off it is very old and a classic Christmas song.

It was released at the end of 1984. I think that would mean plenty of MNetters are also very old, as they were alive then. 😀

RobinGet · 23/12/2023 21:08

I was only a young kid when the song came out but even I understood the ‘thank god it’s them’ line as being grateful that we weren’t in their position. Not all lyrics have to be taken literally, and this song captured the zeitgeist of the dreadful things we were seeing on the news.

GrazingSheep · 23/12/2023 21:08

Bono didn’t write it. It was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. Would be good if people actually got their facts right.

LeonieSN93 · 23/12/2023 21:09

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Do you need a lie down, mate? 😂

autienotnaughty · 23/12/2023 21:09

43ontherocksporfavor · 23/12/2023 20:53

It was written at the time of famine in Ethiopia so everyone at the time( I was a teen) understood Africa to refer to that famine. ‘ Tonight thank god it’s them’ refers to thank god it’s them that’s getting help . It was a charity song that raised millions to help the Ethiopian people.What is wrong with you???

It's thank god it's them instead of you. As in be grateful it's not you suffering

StarlightLime · 23/12/2023 21:10

SemperIdem · 23/12/2023 21:03

It is reductive and patronising. Africa is made up of 54 countries, with many different religions and cultures. Not “knowing” it is Christmas is not indicative of being poverty stricken or having a life of less value, or one requiring the pity of white people.

It’s a bit like how parents don’t tell their children to finish their dinners because “there’s starving children in Africa” anymore. That was also common enough at the time this song was released.

Show quote history

There was a famine in Ethiopia at the time. The recording raised a considerable amount of money.

Ballsing on about the lyrics being out of step with modern thinking forty years on is so nonsensical.

Esmerelda2024 · 23/12/2023 21:11

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
SecondUsername4me · 23/12/2023 21:11

I mean if you are trying to get Band Aid cancelled

I'm not.

OP posts:
79Beastie · 23/12/2023 21:12

It's a song from 1984 for goodness sake. It had a meaning back then.

Esmerelda2024 · 23/12/2023 21:13

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

BethDuttonsTwin · 23/12/2023 21:13

It raised millions at the time and raised awareness of what was going on in a way that had never been done before.

I find these kinds of judgments of historical relatively harmless social norms, by modern day standards really tiresome I have to say.

EmmaEmerald · 23/12/2023 21:15

Tygertiger · 23/12/2023 20:59

“Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” is deliberately provocative. Bono didn’t want it at first as he thought, WTF? But Midge Ure pushed it back on him and said, when we’re all enjoying a nice time in our homes with family and lots of food and we’re all cosy and safe, and an awful story comes on the news, isn’t there a little dark part of your soul which is just glad that’s not you? You feel sad for five minutes then it’s back to the party? It’s meant to be challenging and uncomfortable.

The lines about snow are awful and cringey. But I think Bono’s line is really powerful when you see the intent.

Thank you, it's really useful to know background.

Terfosaurus · 23/12/2023 21:17

AllIsCalmButImNotBright · 23/12/2023 21:08

@Sk8erboi
While some of the lyrics are a bit off it is very old and a classic Christmas song.

It was released at the end of 1984. I think that would mean plenty of MNetters are also very old, as they were alive then. 😀

I was born in 1984.
I am definitely NOT very old!

Snowflakecookie1989 · 23/12/2023 21:17

I always thought the "tonight thank god it's them, instead of you" was another way of saying "There but for the grace of god..." Kind of thing ?

Theinnocenteyeballsinthesky · 23/12/2023 21:18

BethDuttonsTwin · 23/12/2023 21:13

It raised millions at the time and raised awareness of what was going on in a way that had never been done before.

I find these kinds of judgments of historical relatively harmless social norms, by modern day standards really tiresome I have to say.

Yes quite! I was a teenager in 1984 - there was no Internet, no 24 hour news. Michael Buerk’s report from Ethiopia hit like a truck - it had a massive impact.

the sole purpose of the song was to raise money & awareness, it did both.

SemperIdem · 23/12/2023 21:20

StarlightLime · 23/12/2023 21:10

There was a famine in Ethiopia at the time. The recording raised a considerable amount of money.

Ballsing on about the lyrics being out of step with modern thinking forty years on is so nonsensical.

Show quote history

In my original post, which you seem quite fixated on, I acknowledge it was released almost 40 years ago.

It not being in step with modern thinking is quite a logical conclusion, no? Ure and Geldof were progressive thinkers of the time, not time travellers.

StarlightLime · 23/12/2023 21:20

Snowflakecookie1989 · 23/12/2023 21:17

I always thought the "tonight thank god it's them, instead of you" was another way of saying "There but for the grace of god..." Kind of thing ?

Yes, of course it is.

MulledWineBeMine · 23/12/2023 21:21

@SecondUsername4me

Do you live under a rock??

Shelby2010 · 23/12/2023 21:22

AllIsCalmButImNotBright · 23/12/2023 21:08

@Sk8erboi
While some of the lyrics are a bit off it is very old and a classic Christmas song.

It was released at the end of 1984. I think that would mean plenty of MNetters are also very old, as they were alive then. 😀

Who are you calling old! 🤣

I think one of the reasons us ‘old’ people still like it is because it was the first time we saw people suffering thousands of miles away and did something about it. We felt we were part of making the world a better place. OK, we were naive, as were the pop stars involved but it changed how international aid was perceived by the general public.

And hearing it makes us feel like teenagers again. And singing it loudly annoys the hell out of our own teenagers!

StarlightLime · 23/12/2023 21:23

SemperIdem · 23/12/2023 21:20

In my original post, which you seem quite fixated on, I acknowledge it was released almost 40 years ago.

It not being in step with modern thinking is quite a logical conclusion, no? Ure and Geldof were progressive thinkers of the time, not time travellers.

Show quote history

I responded to your post. I'm no more fixated than anyone else posting on the thread? How peculiar 😂

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 23/12/2023 21:25

It was written, recorded and released in a week to raise money for Ethiopia when Bob had seen the news of the awful famine. He and Midge Ure pulled off an amazing feat.
Just be quiet. It's 40 years old for goodness sake.