There’s no need to be afraid, but 40 years since the advent of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ by Band Aid there is a dispute raging about the commemorations. There is to be an ‘ultimate’ version of this haunting ditty – haunting in the Borley Rectory sense – in which vocals from across each of the four versions of the star-spangled roundelay are combined, including those of the sadly deceased.
For me, the release of Band Aid was the day the music died
Perhaps inevitably, given the fraught cultural world we now live in, even at the frothiest end, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ has sparked rancour this time around. Given that it hits several boiling hot spots – international politics, racial and cultural difference – how could it not? Ed Sheeran, who appeared on the 2014 version, has let it be known that he would not have permitted his vocal to be used on the ultimate mix had he been consulted, which he was not.
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