Almost forty years after it was written, people are pondering the lyrics to Band Aid classic ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ and calling for the song to join ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’ on the Xmas sh-t-list.
Here are the ‘racist’ lyrics people are objecting to:
There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Don’t get me wrong, the ‘cancellation’ of old songs and movies and whatnot annoys me as much as the next person, but those lyrics are pretty outdated and paint a very generalised and inaccurate idea of Africa. Is it enough to kick the song off the Christmas playlist though? Well, probably, because Ladbaby is doing one of their wank cover versions this year so it’d be convenient in that regard too.
Obviously, racism wasn’t the intent when the song was originally written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984. A lot of people born after 2000 may be unfamiliar with the famine in Ethiopia that prompted the song, and how much money it raised over the years, so stripped of that context it may come across as patronising or culturally insensititve. These people sure seem to think so:
Heard Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” yet? Please listen to the lyrics carefully and then complain to your radio station/supermarket re: explicit racism & lack of Christmas spirit “thank God it’s them instead of you”! Read @DipoFaloyin #AfricaIsNotACountry for more… pic.twitter.com/TzVnJ82HVC
— Dr. Miranda Kaufmann (@MirandaKaufmann) December 2, 2022
With all this racism discourse in the news at the moment, an annual reminder that Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas is still and has always been racist.
— Tai Rachel (@taiwhoa) December 3, 2022
‘Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’… Never really appreciated what a nasty,selfish and ‘unchristian’ lyric lies within ‘Do They Know It’s Xmas’🤔🙄 #Christmas pic.twitter.com/6R9Md01Tir
— KG Miles 😎 (@barberville) December 14, 2022
Random 🧵Poorly written Xmas songs in no particular order:
“Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band-Aid: This song is so ignorant and racist that I’m almost surprised it still gets played. Not to mention it guilt trips you.
— Nette Going On 30 🐀 (@J_Nettlez) December 6, 2022
At least Mariah Carey’s song is safe… for now.
