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In 1984, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure got together a collection of popular British and Irish musicians, under the name of Band Aid, to release a single for charity. The song was called 'Do they know it's Christmas' and the proceeds from the sale of over three million copies were used for urgent work to combat the famine in Ethiopia.

The song was one of those sung at the famous Live Aid concert, which was watched by three billion people using 95% of the world's television sets. It was remade in 1989 by a different group of artists, again with the proceeds going to charity. This new version was not as popular, although it still became the Christmas Number One. The original song has been played on the radio in the UK every Christmas, and features on some Christmas song compilation albums.

Twenty Years On

In November 2004, 20 years after the original release, the song was remade again by a group of artists described at the time as 'a who's who of contemporary British Rock, Pop, R&B and Urban Music.'¹ The song was rewritten slightly to involve piano and guitars rather than the bells of the original, and included a couple of extra lines sung as a rap by Dizzee Rascal. Nigel Godrich was the producer of the new version, and the one constantly worrying on the actual day.

The song was mainly recorded on Saturday 14 November 2004, when all the artists got together at Air Studio except for Dido, who recorded her part from Australia, and Robbie Williams, who prerecorded his part. Bono had recorded his part in Dublin, but turned up on the day to rerecord his part, the line 'Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you'. Bono had taken part in the original, but at that time he had felt uncomfortable with the line he'd been given, thinking it was callous to 'thank God it's them' until Geldof told him that the discomfort he was feeling was exactly what the line was written for. In approaching the 20th anniversary remake, however, Bono felt that he wanted to replace his original roar of the line with a calmer, less vengeful interpretation. He explained 'Revenge is a dish best served cold', meaning that although Band Aid was originally set up to see what they could do in the short term, they now aimed to cause change in the long term, as they now understood the power of music.

There was a nervous atmosphere as the artists arrived, with Joss Stone joking that she couldn't even remember Bob Geldof's name, apparently confusing him with 'Gandalf'. However, Bob Geldof had prepared a video of footage from Ethiopia in 1984 accompanied by 'Drive' by The Cars, as had been shown at Live Aid. This clearly moved the artists, and to add further weight to his message Bob pointed out a starving, emaciated child in the video, then introduced them to her - she had survived with the help of Band Aid, and was now working as an agronomist, using her education to find solutions to the continued starvation which still kills thousands of people every day.

The artists can be seen watching her on a television during the music video to the song, and the effect is visible. Neil Hannon² who took part in the new version noted in a magazine article that '... the room went from all beer and jollity and "aren't we all famous" to quite serious in a couple of minutes.' The message Bob Geldof was putting across was clear - Band Aid isn't just a short-term reaction to the problem, but a long-term effort that will change lives.

Recording the new version

The main music track was laid down in advance, with Paul McCartney providing the bass line on guitar, and Fran Healy³ adding a guide vocal for the other singers to work around. Several artists sang in pairs, and everyone got together at the end to sing the line 'Feed the World', with Joss Stone's ad libitum part, which had been recorded earlier, being added over the top afterwards. Other artists were encouraged to ad lib during the chorus, but Keisha from the Sugababes commented that she and her friends were stood next to Beverley Knight, who has an extremely loud Gospel voice, and each time Keisha thought of something to ad lib she was drowned out by Beverley's own ad libs. All the artists in the 'chorus' at the end were given percussion instruments such as shakers and sticks to play while singing, giving the ending a different, almost celebratory feeling from the original.

The video of the new version was shown simultaneously on all five UK terrestrial channels at 5.00pm on Tuesday 16 November, drawing an audience of over 13 million. The video was also shown on digital channels at the same time. The single was then played at 8.00pm on the following Thursday on many large radio stations. The single was released on Monday 29 November, 2004, and sold over 72,000 copies on the first day, making it to number one in the UK Singles Chart by the end of the week. The single was released as a CD with the original version and the 1985 Live Aid version as well as the new version. The single also topped the UK downloads chart and the UK ringtones chart. At the time of writing it is unclear whether the single will be the UK Christmas Number One by selling the most copies during the last full week before Christmas.

The musicians who took part

Singers⁴:
Chris Martin (Coldplay), Dido, Robbie Williams, The Sugababes, Fran Healey (Travis), Bono (U2), Will Young and Jamelia, Beverley Knight and Ms Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, Tom Chaplain, Justin Hawkins, Busted, Joss Stone and Justin Hawkins.

Those singing in the ensemble⁵:Padraic McMahon, Kevin Horan, Daniel Ryan, Ben Carrigan, Conor Deasey (The Thrills); Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Mark McClelland, Jonathan Quin, Tom Simpson (Snow Patrol); Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain, Ed Graham (The Darkness), Katie Melua; Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy); Skye Gordon (Morcheeba); Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane); Roisin Murphy (Moloko); Fran Healey, Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop (Travis); Nigel Godrich (producer); Bob Geldof, Grant Nicholas (Feeder), Damon Albarn; Shaznay Lewis; Midge Ure; Ms Dynamite; Joss Stone; Beverley Knight; Daniel Bedingfield; Mutya Rose Buena, Heidi Range, Keisha Buchanan (Sugababes); Matt Jay, Charlie Simpson, James Bourne (Busted); Lemar; Rachel Stevens; Estelle; Will Young; Jamelia; Natasha Bedingfield; Olly Knights, Gale Paridjanian (Turin Brakes).

Instruments:

Paul McCartney - Bass guitar

Danny Coffey (Supergrass) - Drums

Thom Yorke (Radiohead) - Piano

Fran Healy - Guitar

Justin Hawkins - Guitar

Dan Hawkins - Guitar

Further information

• For more details about the single and how to obtain a copy, see the Band Aid 20 website.

• Find out about the latest music, news and charts, courtesy of the Radio One website.

• Read about how the Prime Minister picked up his copy on BBC News.