"Do They Know It`s Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.

"Do They Know It`s Christmas?" was released in the UK on 7 December 1984. It entered the UK singles chart at number one, where it remained for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one. It sold a million copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling single in UK chart history until Elton John`s "Candle in the Wind 1997". UK sales passed three million on the last day of 1984. The song also reached number one in 13 other countries. In the US, it fell short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay, but sold an estimated 2.5 million copies by 1985. It had sold 11.7 million copies worldwide by 1989 and 3.8 million in the UK by 2017.

"Do They Know It`s Christmas?" raised pounds 8 million for Ethiopia within a year, far exceeding Geldof`s hopes. The success led to several other charity singles, such as "We Are the World" (1985) by USA for Africa, and spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief and the 1985 Live Aid concert. Some critics objected to its depiction of Ethiopia and Africa as barren. Ure said the song was secondary to the purpose of raising money for the cause.

"Do They Know It`s Christmas?" was rerecorded and rereleased in 1989, 2004 and 2014. The 1989 and 2004 versions also raised funds for famine relief, while the 2014 version raised funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. All three reached number one in the UK, and the 1989 and 2004 versions became Christmas number ones. The 2004 version sold 1.8 million copies. A new mix, combining elements of the previous versions, was released in 2024 for the 40th anniversary.

Background

"Do They Know It`s Christmas?" was inspired by a series of reports made by the BBC journalist Michael Buerk in 1984, which drew attention to the famine in Ethiopia.[2] The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk`s report on 23 October describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth".[3] The report featured the nurse Claire Bertschinger, who had to choose which children would receive the limited amount of food at the feeding station and who were too sick to be saved.[4] The reports shocked the UK, motivating the British people to inundate relief agencies, such as Save the Children, with donations.[5][6] The Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and his partner, the television presenter Paula Yates, watched the broadcast on 23 October and were deeply affected by it.[6] Geldof said about Bertschinger: "In her was vested the power of life and death. She had become godlike, and that is unbearable for anyone."[4]

On 2 November, Yates was in the Tyne Tees studio in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she was presenting the weekly live music show The Tube. Among the acts performing were Ultravox, promoting their greatest hits album The Collection. The singer, Midge Ure, was chatting to Yates in the dressing room when Geldof called her. Geldof had worked with Ure at the 1981 charity benefit show The Secret Policeman`s Ball. Geldof asked to speak to Ure and told him that he wanted to do something to alleviate the suffering in Ethiopia. He and Ure arranged to discuss ideas over lunch the following Monday, 5 November, and decided to make a charity record.[6]

Geldof began recruiting musicians. He called Sting and Simon Le Bon, who agreed to participate along with the rest of Duran Duran, and recruited Spandau Ballet after a chance meeting with the band`s guitarist Gary Kemp at an antiques shop in London. Geldof said: "It suddenly it hit me. I thought, `Christ, we have got the real top boys here`, all the big names in pop are suddenly ready and willing to do this... I knew then that we were off, and I just decided to go for all the rest of the faces and started to ring everyone up, asking them to do it."[7] Further phone calls from Geldof also secured promises of everybody involved to provide their services free of charge. Other contributors included UK music magazines, which donated advertising space to promote the single; Geldof`s record label Phonogram, which released the single; their parent company PolyGram, which distributed it; and the artist Peter Blake, who created the single`s sleeve.[8]

Composition

"Do They Know It`s Christmas" was written by Bob Geldof (left) and Midge Ure (right) and produced by Ure.

Geldof`s and Ure`s biggest challenge was to write a song that could be recorded and released in time for Christmas. To avoid having to pay royalties, which would diminish the amount raised for charity, they wrote an original song rather than record a cover version. Ure wrote what he felt was a Christmas-like melody on a portable keyboard. He sent a tape to Geldof, who sarcastically told him that it sounded like the theme to the television series Z-Cars.[9]

Geldof came to Ure`s house the next day and they worked on the song with Geldof on acoustic guitar. Geldof added lyrics based on a song he had originally written for the Boomtown Rats, which he had provisionally titled "It`s My World".[7] Ure recorded Geldof and his guitar and used the recording to develop Geldof`s ideas in his home studio, adding his own melody as a chorus. He was unable to improve on Geldof`s lyrics, with the exception of the line "And there won`t be snow in Africa this Christmas time". The original lyric substituted "Africa" with "Ethiopia", but Ure decided "Ethiopia" had too many syllables to fit the melody.[9]

Geldof asked Trevor Horn to produce the song. Horn was an in-demand producer, having produced three number-one singles that year for Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He was receptive but said he would need at least six weeks, which would make it impossible to release by Christmas. However, he allowed the team to use his studios, Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, free for 24 hours on 25 November. Horn later remixed and co-produced the