Will Pooley, the British aid worker in Sierra Leone who contracted and survived Ebola, has already dismissed Band Aid 30’s version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” as “cringeworthy.” With high-profile participants such as One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding, his criticism will hardly hinder the charity single’s goal to battle the virus that has gripped West Africa — and that’s a good thing. While the original 1985 version, recorded during an eleventh-hour all-star session, holds a certain amount of charm and real heart, this update has less. Half the lyrics on this version are rebooted to fit the new cause (not well) and make it sound more culturally sensitive overall (it’s not), but the changes merely draw attention to the song’s many, many flaws. [...] when Bono ditches his original line “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” (the replacement, “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you” is hardly an improvement), you know it’s a lost cause for a good cause.
Comment on Song review: Band Aid 30, 'Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
By Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle: Entertainment
Wed, 12/17/2014 - 9:02pm
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