“Do they know it’s Christmas?” Fuse ODG (real name Nana Richard Obiana) turned down the offer to take part in the 30th anniversary of the original song in 2014 which was to be refashioned to raise money for the Ebola crisis. He says: “I pointed out to Geldof the lyrics I did not agree with, such as the lines ‘Where a kiss of love can kill you and there’s death in every tear’”. The line comes from the original quatrain of the 1985 Live Aid single:
“There’s a world outside your window” speaks to the western home (including those of African diaspora). “And it’s a world of dread and fear” is the same. The accompanying two lines “Where a kiss of love can kill you and there’s death in every tear” powerfully poetically depict the mother and her dying child. Let’s look at the line “Do they know it’s Christmas?” The writer plants the question inside our homes.
“Do they know it’s Christmas?” is a powerful line which takes us to the bewilderment of trauma. My friend Selam Amare tells me ”Of course they know it’s Christmas. It’s Ethiopia. It is a Christian country.” But if you were sat with your dying child would Christmas matter to you? Metaphorically the line stands and in reality it stands too. The line is exemplary. It puts saving a life before religion.
Thousands of lives were saved by the funds raised in the 1985 Live Aid
Speaking generally do British people know Christianity was in Ethiopia long before England? I guess not. Do they know Ethiopia is in the bible? On the whole no. Do they even know the Nile is in Ethiopia. Generally no. Do they know Ethiopia and Ireland are united by famine and Bob Geldof? I could go on. Did they know they could save a life by supporting the cause. Yes. All of those answers do not stand up to the last one, and that was the reason for writing it.
Fuse ODG focuses us on “white privilege” which is in fact his privilege and mine. There is a lot wrong with charity. But in this case they got it right. Let’s look at what we do know about that Christmas single and its recurrences. We do know that thousands of lives were saved by the funds raised in the 1985 Live Aid. That over 70 artists performed 16 hours of live music to 40 percent of the population of earth. The concerts have raised over £140 million for famine relief. There would there have been no comic relief without Live Aid. The ripple effect revived charity as activism, revived the world.
Nels Abbey in the Guardian tells me “Ed Sheeran is following the lead of Fuse ODG, Sheeran has taken a principled stand against his unauthorised inclusion in the re-release” for the 40th anniversary single. Fuse said that “every human being deserves dignity in their suffering”. How many dignified deaths have you witnessed and when did dignity save a life?
Lemn Sissay is a poet, playwright and broadcaster
