It’s the time of year when a particular subset of songs become unavoidable. Your reaction to hearing Christmas music everywhere can be shaped by many influences, not the least of which being “How many years you worked in a record store over the holidays and heard this music literally ad nauseam.”
Ahem.
Anyway, one of the years I worked at Camelot Music was 1984. That was the year that Band Aid released “Do They Know It’s Christmas”. I thought it would be fun to give it a listen and compare it to its also-evil twin, “We Are The World” and share my impressions.
“Fun” may have been the wrong choice of words there. Let’s start with the one of the most obvious traits they share: Neither are good songs. They’re just not. They were both put together extremely quickly and under difficult circumstances (very, very few “supergroups” produce great work even when they spend a year in the studio together). But, they’re bad in wildly different ways, so let’s take a look.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas” – Band Aid
Released December 3, 1984
The stories of how it got made are more interesting than the song itself, which was based on a rejected bit of a song Bob Geldof wrote for his band, The Boomtown Rats. If you’re interested, there are plenty of resources available describing how the whole thing went from conception to in-the-stores in about a month. It’s a weird little song which doesn’t have the sort of sing-a-long appeal you’d expect of a benefit Christmas song. It’s an awkward collection of verses, hooks, bridges, and a pretty decent out-chorus.
It’s very much an artifact of its time in that it’s both incredibly earnest and patronizing to a disturbing degree. You get the sense that there’s a sneer behind the colonialism, a criticism of it, that might have been intended in the lyrics but didn’t come across in the performances. Bono certainly thought so:
“It’s the most biting line, and actually reveals how selfish a mindset we all have underneath. I think Bob was trying to be honest and raw and self-accusatory. Rather than sing, ‘We’re lucky it’s not us’ he was saying: ‘Well, when you say that, you mean ‘lucky it’s them.’ Now look at it. Now look at yourself.'”
As for the performances, they’re mostly pretty nondescript with a couple of exceptions. Bono’s wailing of that line gets the most attention, but if you listen to it (something I can only half-heartedly recommend), pay attention to Boy George’s lines. I think he’s the best vocalist in the group by some margin and I feel for George Michael having to follow him.
The “group” itself is largely composed of a few new wave groups who happened to be available in the brief window available to do the recording. Heavily represented are The Boomtown Rats, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Status Quo, and Bananarama. It’s also very much a white boys club: No women get solo lines and Jodi Whatley is the only woman involved other than the members of Bananarama.
For a benefit for Africa, there are also stunningly few people of African descent involved. In addition to Whatley, Kool & The Gang happened to be in the neighborhood and contribute to the chorus. The lack of voices of color doesn’t help the colonial vibe of the event.
All-in-all, it’s extremely heartfelt, very DIY, very messy, and not without its problems. If I had to pick a favorite moment, it’d be Phil Collins giving it a go on the drums in his sweater vest. I’m biased, but I don’t think Phil gets enough credit for his charity work. He may not have always been out in front, but he was tirelessly willing to donate his time to any cause that asked.
“We Are The World” – USA For Africa
Released 7 March, 1985
Released only 3 months after “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, “We Are The World” sounds like it came from a completely different era. The songwriting and production of the first song were typical of the early-80s new wave era. “We Are The World”, featuring the beloved/dreaded Yamaha DX7 electric piano, was an R&B ballad with a sound that belonged to the end of the decade.
The American tune, created with the luxury of a little more time to put things together as well as the wizardry of Quincy Jones, is an oh-so-slick affair with a much more fully-realized sounds than its predecessor. Another key difference is that, while Band Aid were largely composed of the members of a few bands, USA for Africa took more of a everybody-who-is-anybody approach.
The list of soloists is daunting: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dione Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles.
Of course, the music can’t possibly match up to a cast like that. It’s as harmless and inoffensive and forgettable as you could possible want. And the lyrics are problematic in a very different way than those of “Do They Know It’s Christmas”. Where I think the words were meant to convey “This is our responsibility to do something”, it comes across more as “Look at us and this marvelous thing we are doing for other people…look at us!”
On the plus side, the American song features a good number of African-American artists and it’s better for it. Unfortunately, instead of coming across as having it “white savior” complex, it still kind of lands on “rich American savior” which is…better?
The video is far less unguarded than the UK song’s, so the charming moments are few and far between. As tempted as I am to select seeing Willie Nelson and Dione Warwick trading verses as my favorite moment, I have to give that honor to Cyndi Lauper. She brings it with an energy that Springsteen only wishes he had, and she can actually sing, too.
Thanks for indulging me in this. Now let’s skip to things I actually want to listen to over the holidays. One of the things we always look forward to is when the Neko Atsume app switches to its winter music. It’s the same song that the game normally uses, but it’s a slower, more ethereal arrangement and it gives me chills the first time it plays during the game every winter.
Back in ye olden days, when I worked in the record store, there was one record that we could not keep in stock. No one really knew the album or the artist, but when we’d play the record in-store, we’d sell out of it. I’m not kidding when I say this was often our #1 seller of all genres in December. It’s George Winston’s December and you probably want it on in the background at some point.
Long live new age music, and long live Windham Hill.
Happy whatever-holiday-you-choose-to-celebrate, and take care of yourself, ok?
-RK