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Ellie Goulding, Bono, Sam Smith, More Come Together For Band Aid 30’s ‘Do They Know Its Christmas?”

Back in 1984, a supergroup called Band Aid got together to raise money for anti-poverty efforts in Ethiopia. Led by Bob Geldof, the former lead singer of The Boomtown Rats, a select group of the biggest artists in the world—Bono, Simon Le Bon, David Bowie, and Boy George— recorded the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

The single sold more than three million copies worldwide and raised about $25 million dollars for the cause.

Over the past couple decades, Band Aid would go on to release a few more reiterations of the song and so, it comes as no surprise that a reworked version has recently been released to celebrate the anthem’s 30th anniversary.

band-aid-30-artwork

With Geldof still at the helm, the newest incarnation features such chart-topping hitmakers as One Direction, Coldplay‘s Chris Martin, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran. Instead of contributing proceeds to anti-poverty efforts, the single has been reworked so its lyrics can reflect the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

The song debuted on the results show of The X Factor in the U.K. Watch the video below.

Now take a look at the original. How do you think it measures up?

Finally, seeing that we’re on the subject of holiday song makeovers, might we suggest a few more that could use a facelift. First up, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” The song was originally recorded in 1979 by husband-and-wife group Elmo & Patsy. Perhaps OK Go could get their musical paws on it and inject new life into poor Rudolph.

Or maybe Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which Ariana Grande would totally K-I-L-L.

Lastly, we wouldn’t mind hearing someone like John Legend or Bruno Mars take a stab at Jon Bon Jovi’s holiday classic, “Please Come Home For Christmas.”

In all seriousness, if you’d like to contribute to Band Aid and/or follow the organization’s efforts, follow @BandAid30 or search #BandAid30.

[H/T: Band Aid’s YouTube, Cosmopolitan UK]

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Comments

  1. Hoss says:

    NOOOOO! God, just leave the original alone.  It’s an epic song. This new rendition with a ton of people no one knows singing on it is atrocious.