greaserkat 21.12.2011 13:57 |
Which one of the two songs do you think is better? Granted, both raised millions of dollars for the famine relief and were a great catalyst for the cause, but I feel that Do They Know its Christmas is better. |
GratefulFan 21.12.2011 14:17 |
Canada did one as well in early 1985: Tears are Not Enough link For me I think it's a tie between Do They Know It's Christmas and Tears are Not Enough. Though of course We Are The World was moving and effective, and a great song. It's funny greasercat...this seems like an obscure thread of sorts but starting this very subject was on my mind just a few days ago. And I was going to include the idea of favourite Christmas carols as well. So even though you didn't ask I'll add that my favourite traditional carols are O Holy Night and Little Drummer Boy, and my favourite modern songs are Last Christmas (The Beatmas version) and Happy Christmas (War is Over). Would love to hear the favourites of others. :) |
greaserkat 21.12.2011 14:38 |
GreatfulFan, i think it's the holiday itch that has been in my mind too lately, lol. I would say my favorite X-mas song would be Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Another one would be Navidad Sin Ti (Christmas Without You) by Los Bukis; it's close to me because of what I was going through a couple of years ago during the holiday season. |
Holly2003 21.12.2011 15:04 |
link With an orchestrated guitar intro and lyrics that inlcude a sexual innuendo, my fav is The Darkness' Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End). |
mooghead 21.12.2011 15:42 |
Lol @ tears are not enough.. never heard it.. have no desire to.. not clicking the link. I prefer Do they know its christmas simply because the participants turned up as themselves, dressed in their scruffs, hungover, ready to sing for charity. The american one had everyone in full dress and make up not really knowing what the hell they were doing there.. as sincere as me praying to the fictional character that is 'god' |
GratefulFan 21.12.2011 16:49 |
Lol @ needing to be an unnecessary twat and ennui afflicted cynic face even on a Christmas thread. I have just two words: Corey Hart. And Neil Young looks really badass in it! But suit yourself. For anybody that actually is interested in it I found a much better quality version in a bit more of a documentary style with Geddy Lee taking about some of his motivation and thoughts about participating at the beginning of the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVYPrnt2lI8 I don't know how it came to be that I never, ever hear of The Darkness unless it's on here. I missed them entirely somehow. It took me a good bit to figure out what the innuendo was, but I did, I think, with the help of a couple of YouTube comments and Urban Dictionary. That would be somewhat regional slang as these things go I think. Anyway, I like it. The song I mean! I'm going to buy it on iTunes when I get home andadd it to my Christmas collection. Thanks Holly. :) Greaserkat, I tried to listen to yours but it was very, very Spanish! Can you post a rough lyric translation? :) |
JoxerTheDeityPirate 22.12.2011 03:10 |
the problem with Band Aid is that the first version was bad enough but then they went and made other versions over the years that made the original seem like a an absolute classic.. pete waterman should rot eternally in Hell for ever being allowed near the second version and anything that has robbie williams and coldplay involved is instantly damned in the 3rd version.. we are the world was just a shameless stunt by americans to cash in on the band aid thing [note the famous food buffet at the recording] without having a clue what they were doing it for.. never heard the canadian version and thats the way i intend to continue |
john bodega 22.12.2011 03:58 |
They really are putrid; all of them. What's hardest is watching the 20th anniversary one where Bono gets another crack at his original big moment, and winds up sounding like he's hooked up to a respirator. Possibly the funniest one of these awful celebrity charity things is the Sailing one from around 1990. Bonnie Tyler's hair is particularly amusing. Pino Palladino's bass is like being cracked onto by a 50 year old swinger. The one to avoid, most recently, is the All You Need is Love that Brian was roped into playing on a year or two ago. His appearance sounds particularly gutless - why they didn't let him beef the guitar up, who knows - and the entire track sounds utterly anemic. 'orrible production, honestly. BUT ... it's for a good cause. |
GratefulFan 22.12.2011 06:10 |
They're putrid on purpose though. They needed to be lyrically and musically shallow and easy to remember to engage emotion on a wide scale. Like political slogans, with more cheese. There are seriously wretched lyrics in the Canadian version, 'We Are The World' (yeah, sure you are America) was a bit of a self congratulatory mess and 'Do They Know It's Christmas' asked a fundamentally absurd question. But that's not the point. They were great songs because of the way they made people feel. It's easy to be cynical now - the whole format is tired - but at the time the gathering of all those famous faces and all that talent was a revelation. The video format was still new and exciting and that use of it was inspirational. There was a lot of commitment and joy in the room in those recording sessions that still leaks out and is still powerful I think, despite the cheese. |
Mr Mercury 22.12.2011 07:46 |
JoxerTheDeityPirate wrote: the problem with Band Aid is that the first version was bad enough but then they went and made other versions over the years that made the original seem like a an absolute classic.. pete waterman should rot eternally in Hell for ever being allowed near the second version and anything that has robbie williams and coldplay involved is instantly damned in the 3rd version.. we are the world was just a shameless stunt by americans to cash in on the band aid thing [note the famous food buffet at the recording] without having a clue what they were doing it for.. never heard the canadian version and thats the way i intend to continue Trust me Joxer, if you ever did click on the Canadian song as I did, you will think of Band Aid as a classic...... And for the record, here is my current fave christmas song (relevant these days thanks to the recession) |
pittrek 22.12.2011 08:07 |
I like both of them |
Rick 22.12.2011 10:20 |
The former, because of Ure. New Ultravox album soon! :) |
john bodega 22.12.2011 11:02 |
"at the time the gathering of all those famous faces and all that talent was a revelation" Yes, they were a simpler people in simpler times back then! :D I cannot speak from firsthand memories as I was too young for a lot of this, but taken directly from people who do remember it all - right down to those horrid Choose Life t-shirts - it was not a revelation for everyone. A lot of people found it as pungent back then as it is today, and rightly so. Going back to "All You Need Is Love", why settle for a catchy song and a good recording when you can just throw celebs at the problem willy nilly and without any kind of musical judgement? PS. I am listening to the songs at the moment and they are a lark, but they give me indigestion. Don Corleone putting a hit on someone never knew this level of gastrointestinal discomfort. |
greaserkat 22.12.2011 11:12 |
GratefulFan wrote: Lol @ needing to be an unnecessary twat and ennui afflicted cynic face even on a Christmas thread. I have just two words: Corey Hart. And Neil Young looks really badassin it! But suit yourself. For anybody that actually is interested in it I found a much better quality version in a bit more of a documentary style with Geddy Lee taking about some of his motivation and thoughts about participating at the beginning of the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVYPrnt2lI8 I don't know how it came to be that I never, ever hear of The Darkness unless it's on here. I missed them entirely somehow. It took me a good bit to figure out what the innuendo was, but I did, I think, with the help of a couple of YouTube comments and Urban Dictionary. That would be somewhat regional slang as these things go I think. Anyway, I like it. The song I mean! I'm going to buy it on iTunes when I get home andadd it to my Christmas collection. Thanks Holly. :) Greaserkat, I tried to listen to yours but it was very, very Spanish! Can you post a rough lyric translation? :) ============================================================================================ Here is the lyrics translation: Christmas Without You Another year already has gone away many things have happened somethings we have learned and somethings we have forgotten but here inside my soul nothing nothing has changed I always have to you with me I am so enamored the little lights of my tree they seems to speak of you and between piñatas and smiles I feel that you are not here with me in the mirror I see my face My skin, is dying away and in the agony of this year I feel that I die with it And it arrives, Christmas, and I without you in this solitude I remember the day in which I lost you I do not know where you might be but in truth for your happiness today I offer in this Christmas a toast to you [speaking] This always, always happens to me when these days arrive Now, I have that present that had caught your eyes Then, I see the picture where I am next to you Holding it agaisnt my chest I say Another, another Christmas without you the little lights of my tree they seems to speak of you and between piñatas and smiles I feel that you are not here with me in the mirror I see my face My skin, is dying away and in the agony of this year I feel that I die with it And it arrives, Christmas, and I without you in this solitude I remember the day in which I lost you I do not know where you might be but in truth for your happiness today I offer in this Christmas a toast to you And it arrives, Christmas, and I without you in this solitude I remember the day in which I lost you I do not know where you might be but in truth for your happiness today I offer in this Christmas a toast to you... Merry Christmas!!! |
GratefulFan 23.12.2011 11:38 |
Zebonka12 wrote: I cannot speak from firsthand memories as I was too young for a lot of this, but taken directly from people who do remember it all - right down to those horrid Choose Life t-shirts - it was not a revelation for everyone. A lot of people found it as pungent back then as it is today, and rightly so. Going back to "All You Need Is Love", why settle for a catchy song and a good recording when you can just throw celebs at the problem willy nilly and without any kind of musical judgement? PS. I am listening to the songs at the moment and they are a lark, but they give me indigestion. Don Corleone putting a hit on someone never knew this level of gastrointestinal discomfort. ==================================== No, I'm sure it wasn't a revelation for everyone. You're never going to be able to reach/please 100% of the people 100% of the time. If you were a thoughtful, contemplative person you might have found the approach to the problem simplistic and unsatisfying. If you were a cynical person by nature or experience the triteness would have been pretty overwhelming. From a musical sense they were, and remain, the worst kind of pap. Like, an offensive level of pap. But they weren't about musical excellence, and in fact might have failed miserably if they were. They were about quickly putting together something that could reach the vast middle who either actually actively like saccharine meets cute (see the 8 gazillion people who send on (and on and on) retarded nonsense junk email for a modern day example) or were willing to suspend their normal instincts and just go with the selfless, uniting and humbling feelings the songs and the cause invited without an excess of thought or analysis. Not everything needs or benefits from an intellectual rending. They raised a lot of money and a lot of awareness and history gives no particular reason to belive that anything or anyone could have done it in any better way given the limitations and the spirit of those times. I do believe that virtually every last person who participated in singing, producing or promoting the songs, and everybody who bought the singles or sang them in the car or whatever meant to do something meaningful and selfless and important. And that's why they still make me smile and give me something like joy in listening. Even though they're craaaaap. |
GratefulFan 23.12.2011 11:44 |
greaserkat wrote: Here is the lyrics translation: ======================= Thanks. :) Hope that wasn't too much work. I appreciate it. |
greaserkat 23.12.2011 12:01 |
You're welcome. I've been translating Spanish to English for my parents since I was in elementary, lol. |
emrabt 24.12.2011 16:34 |
Zebonka12 wrote: The one to avoid, most recently, is the All You Need is Love that Brian was roped into playing on a year or two ago. His appearance sounds particularly gutless - why they didn't let him beef the guitar up, who knows - and the entire track sounds utterly anemic. 'orrible production, honestly. BUT ... it's for a good cause. ===================================================== That’s because it was thrown together incase the real children in need single wasn’t ready. The real one that year had a load of cartoon characters singing a medley of songs, but took 2 years to animate. |
Hangman_96 24.12.2011 17:05 |
Do They Know It's Christmas is surely better. |
catqueen 24.12.2011 17:11 |
I know its cheesy, but i love do they know its christmas! Its terrible, and i cringe at the 'where nothing ever grows' bit, but i love the song :D |
john bodega 25.12.2011 23:26 |
"The real one that year had a load of cartoon characters singing a medley of songs, but took 2 years to animate" Well I hope in that case that no one got paid. |
JoxerTheDeityPirate 26.12.2011 06:23 |
that would of been the one with peter kay then.. |
emrabt 26.12.2011 11:33 |
Well I hope in that case that no one got paid. +======================== No one gets paid anyway, it's children in need, everyone does things for free. |
john bodega 26.12.2011 12:36 |
"everyone does things for free" How often that's really not the case. |
emrabt 26.12.2011 16:02 |
How often that's really not the case. ====================================== Yes but for the BBC's children in need, it really is the case, no one participating gets paid a fee. |