Band Aid's Midge Ure: ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas isn’t perfect, but it does the job’

The song Do They Know It’s Christmas? was first recorded 40 years ago when musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure brought an incredible lineup of stars together as Band Aid for Ethiopian famine relief.

The single became that year's Christmas Number 1, spending five consecutive weeks on top of the Official Singles Chart. 

Since then, the song has been re-recorded a further three times – as Band Aid II in 1988, Band Aid 20 in 2004 and Band Aid 30 in 2014  – making it to Number 1 on every occasion.

The original remains one of the all time best-sellers in the UK, while the song’s third incarnation by Band Aid 20 has also shifted over one million copies.

MORE: Christmas Number 1 2024 contenders revealed

And now, on its 40th anniversary, Do They Know It's Christmas is in the running for Number 1 again. This year’s Band Aid 40 offering Do They Know It’s Christmas? 2024 Ultimate Mix blends vocalists spanning three versions of the iconic track; 1984’s original, 2004’s Band Aid 20 iteration and 2014’s Band Aid 30 rendition. The song has been named by Official Charts as possible Christmas Number 1 contender 2024.

In an interview with Official Charts back in 2012, Midge Ure reflects on how the song initially came together, his surprise at the track’s success and what he really makes of a song recorded in just 24 hours.

Do They Know Its Christmas is one of the best known British singles of all time – with possibly one of the most unusual recording processes behind it. How did you and Bob bring the song together?

“I initially recorded the melody on a little toy keyboard onto a cassette. It was a lot slower than on the record. I sent it to Bob and he came over a couple of days later. He had this idea. He came up with the majority of the lyrics and at the time I thought these two things were totally incompatible.

“We started with these lyrics, ‘there won’t be snow in Ethiopia this Christmas’, which didn’t quite work, so we changed ‘Ethiopia’ to ‘Africa’, leading into the last bit, ‘feed the world’. The really hard part was to have this quite ominous change of time and then finish with this almost positive singalong part which would be so memorable. That was difficult.”

And then you went into the studio to record it?

“At first, Bob wanted Trevor Horn to produce the record, but he takes six weeks just to produce a single! We just didn’t have that. So, I just said leave it with me. Because I had a studio at the house, I went down there for four days and knocked this think into shape. Bob would pop in occasionally, but I carried on working on the music, putting it together, instrument by instrument. “John Taylor [of Duran Duran] came down and laid down a track, and Paul Weller did some guitar which we didn’t actually use. But everything on that record is synthesised, except for Phil Collins drums, plus I also nicked a drum sound from Tears For Fears, from The Hurting.”

“A couple of people came down to my studio and did their vocal parts before the day itself - and then we had only 24 hours in the studio [Sarm Studio]. I would like to think that we did make the best job of it. But we had no budget to make this, the time constraints were huge, we had to grab whoever, whenever we could. As you can imagine, these people are all over the world and weren’t all available when we wanted them.”

What do you think of the single and the song, looking back on them now?

“They are two separate things. You have to look at it as a song and as a record. What we made was a record and it did a brilliant job. It was quite nicely produced, it had lots of textures on it, lots of highs and lows - and you hear it coming out of the radio and it still does the job today. As a song, if you take away the periphery, the artists, the money raised and the reason we made it, I think it’s not that great. It’s not the best thing I’ve been involved in. But as a record…”

Did you expect it to be quite as huge as it became?

“Absolutely not. On the day we made it, it was a real media circus because of all the characters who were there, because a bunch of artists had never got together like that before. There was a specific aim to get to Number 1 at Christmas, but that was it. But it is a Christmas song and people seem to like pulling it out every year. If for one second, we had thought it would be around for this long – I mean we were very focused on getting to Number 1. It wasn’t until much, much later that we realised what it meant.”

Do They Know It’s Christmas? 2024 Ultimate Mix is out now. Watch the song's official music video below:

This year's Official Christmas Number 1 race 2024 kicks off Friday December 13 with sales and streams counting up until midnight (11.59pm) on Thursday, December 19.   

Tune in to The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1 on Friday December 20 from 4pm to hear the Christmas Top 40 countdown and the exclusive reveal of the Official Christmas Number 1 2024. 

The full Top 100 Official Christmas Singles Chart and Albums Chart will be published on OfficialCharts.com from 5.45pm. 

Join the conversation now using the hashtag #XmasNo1. Follow @OfficialCharts on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. For all the latest race updates join the Official Charts mailing list for Breaking News on this year’s race and beyond.