There’s a New ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Because Apparently We’re Not Done with This Song Yet

Charity songs are often cheesy and patronizing. The prime example: Bob Geldof‘s supergroup-sung 1984 song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” aimed at increasing Western awareness of the 1983-1985 Ethiopian famine.

Despite the unintentional comedy of moments like Bono earnestly wailing “Tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you” and a glossy pop song self-righteously wagging its finger at Westerners with the message that starving Ethiopians don’t even have Christmas, we’ve seen three official versions of the song: 1984, 1989, and 2004.

And now, as a result of West Africa’s Ebola crisis, we can tack on a brand-new edition of the song.

Bono will reprise his role as the main messenger of the song, because of course. Joining him are stars like Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Sinead O’Connor, Ed Sheeran, and the dudes from One Direction. The lyrics will be reworked to condescend to listeners about Ebola, rather than starving children.

Perhaps the greatest takedown of “Christmas?” came from Vice Records in 2005. The parody track, entitled “Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?” jokingly railed against Halloween while raising money for UNICEF. The intentions of the song — which featured Feist, Beck, comedian David Cross, and members of Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Rilo Kiley — “stems from a frustration with other benefit songs’ misguided, somewhat patronizing attitude, and Western-centric worldview.”

You can relive the 1984 magic below:

And then listen to that parody Halloween track below:

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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