It’s been 23 years since “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” debuted around the world. To this day it remains one of the songs I enjoy hearing during the Christmas season. It’s message of giving, of course, fits the holiday season perfectly. But for me this is also one of those songs that pushes a lot of emotional buttons. The mix of the voices and the music (and especially the bells that kick in in the “feed the world” crescendo kicks in at the end) is goose bump inducing all these years later.
It’s only this version that moves me so. The song was re-recorded in 1989 with some different artists (including Kylie Minogue) and again in 2004 for the 20th Anniversary. Only Paul McCartney and Bono from the original recording appeared on the 20th Anniversary version allowing room for younger artists like Joss Stone to appear. None of the new versions hold a candle to the impact the first one made on me.
Here’s the video for the 1984 version. Enjoy this trip in the way back machine…
