07 (06) Do They Know Its Christmas? - Band Aid (120 POINTS, 20 votes 1 1st, 1 2nd & 1 3rds)

 

The original (1984)

 

(1989 version) :puke2:

 

(2004 version)

 

Do They Know It's Christmas? is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 specifically to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and Trevor Horn, and recorded by Band Aid in 1984.

 

In late 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof had seen the report and was moved so much that he decided that a pop record should be used to further increase awareness of the famine and to raise money. Aware that he could do little on his own, he called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

 

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.

 

Using powers of persuasion which have since become a major part of the Geldof legend, he put together a group (Band Aid), consisting of leading Irish and British rock and pop musicians, all of whom were at the very top of the industry.

 

According to its co-authors, the lyrics were largely written by Bob Geldof while Midge Ure is responsible for the melody and vocal arrangement. The song comprises two parts: a verse and bridge which allow individual singers to perform different lines; and a chorus in the form of two repeated phrases by ensemble. The chorus was added by Midge Ure shortly before the recording session and is similar in style to many of his Ultravox songs (such as 'Hymn'). It is also the most effective hook in the song.

 

Lyrics:

The first line of the recording is sung by Paul Young on the 1984 version, Kylie Minogue on the 1989 version, and Chris Martin on the 2004 version. The line was originally written for David Bowie who finally sang it at the Live Aid concert. See the Band Aid article for the full list of contributors.

 

Another lyric which appears to have been tailored to the singers performing in 1984 is The bitter sting of tears performed by Sting.

 

The most controversial and, many would say, powerful, line in the song is: Tonight thank God it's them instead of you. Bono was unhappy with this line and tried to change it at first, due to thanking God for inflicting misery on other people rather than on them. Later, he admitted that it is a painful truth that, while we can feel sympathy and guilt about the plight of others, we're still not prepared to take their place.

 

The lyrics are unashamedly biased towards a western audience and present at best a simplified and stereotypical description of the situation in Africa. Lines such as Where nothing ever grows are particularly naive given that the area in Ethiopia where the famine took place is normally fertile and not a desert at all. The sole purpose of the song was, as Geldof admits, to use the power of celebrity to raise as much money as possible as quickly as possible. It had to be sufficiently well written to avoid putting off the pop stars from taking part.

 

The following morning Geldof appeared on Mike Read's Radio 1 Breakfast Show to promote the record and promised that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government which refused to waive the VAT (tax) on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.

 

The single was released on December 15, 1984, and went straight to number 1 in the UK pop charts outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for 5 weeks selling over 3 million copies.

 

In the United States, the music video was played on MTV frequently throughout the holiday season.

 

The single was released just before Christmas with the aim of raising money for the relief of the famine. Geldof's somewhat cautious hope was for 70,000 pounds. Ultimately, however, the song raised many millions of pounds and became the biggest-selling single in UK chart history. (It has since been passed by Elton John's tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come).

 

Band Aid 20 recorded a new version of the song in November 2004 for the twentieth anniversary of the original recording.

 

At #6 it is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:unsure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.jokovystranky.wz.cz/c/slade/img/SLADE.JPG

 

06 (04) Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade (142 POINTS 22 votes - 1 1st, 2 2nds & 2 3rds)

 

Slade

 

Noel Gallagher (2006)

 

Girls Aloud (2005)

 

Merry Xmas Everybody is a single by the English glam-rock band Slade.

 

Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler it was the band's sixth and final number one single in the UK holding the coveted UK Christmas Number One slot in December 1973. It is affectionately held in the same regard by UK residents as Bing Crosby's White Christmas is by US residents. The song is particularly memorable for frontman Noddy Holder's typically screeching delivery of the line "It's Chriiiiiiist-maaaaaaaaaaas!" towards the song's close.

 

Holder described his reasons for writing the song in the November 2006 issue of MOJO Magazine:

 

"I wanted it to be a working-class British Christmas song. And it fitted right with the political and social things going on at the time. It was very grim: there was the Three-Day Week, power cuts at 10 o'clock at night, television finished early because there was no electricity, there was a miners' strike... the whole country was in turmoil. That's why I came up with the line 'Look to the future now/It's only just begun.' That's what everybody had to do. The country couldn't have been at a lower ebb. In times like that, people always turn to showbiz." Despite the song's association with British working class Christmases it was actually recorded in New York in the Summer of 1973.

 

Since hitting number one, the song has been deeply ingrained in the country's consciousness, and remains so even today; it is still a regular feature at UK nightclubs around the Christmas season, especially on Christmas Eve where midnight is signalled by Noddy's screeching finale. The song re-entered the UK Top 40 singles chart a further four times in 1981, 1983,1998, 2006 & 2007 eventually selling a little over one million copies.

05 (07) Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko (146 POINTS - 22 votes, 0 1st, 3 2nds & 0 3rds)

 

John & Yoko

 

The Idols (2003 UK#5)

 

Delta Goodrem (2006)

 

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a song by English singer-songwriter John Lennon with Yoko Ono (UK#2 in 1980). It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song's single.

 

Although the song is a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas records.

 

John & Yoko, 1969, WAR IS OVER!The lyrics are based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." The cities included New York, Tokyo, Rome, Amsterdam, and London. At the time the United States was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War. The line "War is over/If you want it/War is over/Now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.

 

The record starts with a barely-audible whisper: Yoko whispers "Happy Christmas, Kyoko," then John whispers "Happy Christmas, Julian." Kyoko is Yoko's daughter (from her marriage to Anthony Cox), and Julian is John's son (from his marriage to Cynthia Lennon). Both children were 8 years old at the time the song was recorded in 1971.

 

Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980, the song was re-released in the UK on December 20 of that year.

 

Lyrics:

So this is Christmas

What have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

 

So this is Christmas

Hope you have fun

The near and the dear one

The old and the young

 

A very merry Christmas

A happy new year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

 

So this is Christmas

For weak and for strong

For rich and the poor ones

The world is so wrong

 

So happy Christmas

For black and for white

For yellow and red ones

Let's stop all the fight

 

A very merry Christmas

A happy new year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

 

So this is Christmas

What have we done

Another year over

A new one just begun

 

So this is Christmas

Hope you have fun

The near and the dear ones

The old and the young

 

A very merry Christmas

A happy new year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

 

War is over

If you want it

War is over

Now

04 (05) I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard (191 POINTS 25 votes - 1 1st, 2 2nds & 5 3rds)

 

Wizzard

 

Westlife & friends (live) :puke2:

 

Roy Wood's Christmas anthem was released in the same year as Elton John's Step Into Christmas & Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody (1973 UK#4). However it's Phil Spector inspired Wall of Sound have made this song an enduring classic.

 

Lyrics:

When the snow man brings the snow,

Well he just might like to know,

He's put a great big smile on somebody's face.

If you jump into your bed,

Quickly cover up your head,

don't you lock the doors you know that sweet Santa Claus is on his way

 

CHORUS

Well I wish it could be christmas everyday,

When the kids start singing and the band begins to play,

oh I wish it could be christmas everyday,

Let the bells ring out for christmas.

 

When you're skating in the park,

If the storm clouds make it dark

Then your rosey cheeks will light your merry way.

Now the frosticles appear,

And they've frozen up my beard

So we lie by the fire 'til the heat simply melts it all away

 

Repeat Chorus

 

Instrumental Break

 

When the snow man brings the snow,

Well he just might like to know,

He's put a great big smile on somebody's face.

So when Santa brings our sliegh,

All across the milky way

I saw the name on the roof-top in the snow that he might decide to stay

 

Repeat Chorus (Twice)

 

Why don't you give - your love - for Christmas

(Fade) When the snow man brings the snow

 

 

Slade are VERY low. :o Should be higher!

The Westlife version of I Wish It Could Be Christmas is Vile with a capital V, they have murdered a British classic to shreds :angry:

Ok so perhaps it is no surprise the same Top3 Songs from last year make up this year's Top3 Christmas Songs, but are they all non movers??????......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:unsure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At #3 it is.........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of course.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://991.com/newgallery//Wham-Last-Christmas-17833.jpg

 

03 (03) Last Christmas - Wham! (217 POINTS 28 votes - 1 1sts, 1 2nds & 5 3rds)

 

Wham!

 

Whigfield (1995)

 

Cascada (2007)

 

Ashley Tisdale (2007)

 

"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with "Everything She Wants". It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo.

 

The song's Christmas theme was essentially a ruse to draw in the festive market as the lyrics were entirely about a failed relationship, which just happened to come to a head the previous Christmas. There were no other words or expressions within the lyrics with a seasonal theme or hint, except for a sleighbell effect during the instrumental interlude.

 

Wham! had been a dominant force in the UK singles chart in 1984 and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a mouth-watering battle for the coveted Christmas #1 spot in the UK seemed set to be between Wham! and the year's other big act, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, who had achieved a third #1 in early December with "The Power Of Love". However, the Band Aid project, helmed by Bob Geldof, ensured that the destination of the Christmas #1 spot became a non-contest. Wham!'s offering peaked at #2 for much of the period, although George's involvement in Band Aid meant that Wham! still had an input. Wham! subsequently topped up the monies raised by Band Aid by donating all of their "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal.

 

"Last Christmas" did make #1 in various other countries.

 

The single sold well over a million copies and became the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach #1. A year later, it was re-issued for Christmas again (this time without a billed flip-side) and got to #6. A second re-issue at Christmas 1986 - by which time Wham! had split - stalled outside the top 40.

 

Danish singer Whigfield did a cover version of the song which just failed to make the top 20 in the UK at Christmas 1995. A number of other artists have recorded the song with varied levels of success, including Hilary Duff, Ashley Tisdale, Keshia Chant, Human Nature, Billie Piper, Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, The Cheetah Girls, Manic Street Preachers, Jimmy Eat World, Busted, Crazy Frog, Hawk Nelson, Leigh Nash, The Ordinary Boys, Swedish artist Jan Johansen, Korean pop princess BoA, Japanese actor Yuji Oda(with American Musician Butch Walker), Cascada, and Norwegian musician Erlend Øye, although only the Wham! original has maintained status as an airplay and party staple each festive season on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

 

God, Cascada WRECKED that song :no:

So the number 1 is between

 

http://cityrag.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/mariah_carey_finger.jpg

 

and

 

http://www.ananova.com/images/web/88276.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 has seen the following red hot odds-on favourites:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Samandawikiii.jpg

 

http://www.derapate.it/img/lewis-hamilton-mclaren2007.jpg

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/Rhydian.jpg

 

All fail to win their respective competitions when they were regarded as certainties, so has Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas been toppled as BuzzJack's #1 Christmas Song??????????

 

 

 

 

 

:unsure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming in at #2 is......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one of the worlds most gifted, talented & greatest (according to a lot of people) female singers that the world has ever known.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

02 (01) All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey (259 POINTS - 24 votes 11 1sts, 3 2nds & 7 3rds)

 

Mariah Carey's Alternative 1964 retro video (much better than the one you see all the time of the Music Stations IMHO)

 

My Chemical Romance (2006 version)

 

Same Difference (X Factor 4) (2007)

 

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and recorded for Carey's fifth album Merry Christmas (1994). Its protagonist declares that she doesn't care about Christmas presents or lights; all she wants for Christmas is to be with her lover. It was released as the album's first single in December 1994 and reached the top ten in several non-U.S. countries (including UK#2), and it is one of the most commercially successful Christmas singles of the modern era.

 

According to The New Yorker, it is "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon". Because the song has achieved such success and acclaim in a relatively short time period, many are unaware that it is an original song written by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. It has been covered by singers such as Shania Twain and Samantha Mumba, and bands such as My Chemical Romance. It was performed by Olivia Olson in the film Love Actually (2003). By late 2006, it had become the best-selling holiday ring tone of all time in the U.S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

& at #1 it is

 

01 (02) Fairytale Of New York - Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl (273 POINTS 29 votes - 11 1sts, 4 2nds & 1 3rds)

 

Live St Patrick's Day in Dublin (1988)

 

1987 TOTP's performance

 

"Fairytale of New York" is a popular Christmas song by Irish folk-rock group The Pogues, and featuring the British singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall From Grace with God. The song features string arrangements by Fiachra Trench.

 

"Fairytale of New York" was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts, over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time four years running in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2006 in polls by music channel VH1 UK. It was also voted as the 27th greatest song never to reach UK#1 in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in their "Sold on Song" top 100 poll.

 

The song features two Irish immigrants, lovers or ex-lovers, their youthful hopes all but crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, reminiscing and bickering on Christmas Eve in New York City. MacColl's melodious singing contrasts with the harsh sound of MacGowan's voice and the lyrics which are sometimes bittersweet, sometimes plain bitter: "Happy Christmas your arse/ I pray God it's our last". The lyric "Sinatra was swinging" suggests an unspecified period after World War II. The title, taken from author J. P. Donleavy's novel A Fairy Tale of New York, was chosen after the song had been written and recorded.

 

MacColl was not originally to have appeared on the song. The Pogues were at the time being produced by Steve Lillywhite, MacColl's husband, who asked his wife to provide a guide vocal of the female part for a demo version of the song. The Pogues, however, liked MacColl's contribution so much that they asked her to sing the part on the actual recording.

 

The song was released in the United Kingdom in early December 1987, and swiftly became a hit. On December 17, 1987, the Pogues and MacColl performed the song on the BBC's popular television show Top of the Pops, and it was propelled to #2 on the UK charts. For the Top of the Pops appearance, the BBC insisted that MacColl's singing of "arse" be replaced with the less offensive "ass", although as she mimed the word MacColl slapped the relevant part of her body to make it clear what was meant. Although it finished the year as the #48 song based on a single month's sales, it was infamously denied the Christmas #1 spot by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind". MacGowan commented on this in his typically forthright manner: "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine."

 

The song was re-released by The Pogues in the UK in 1991 (reaching #36), and again in the UK and Ireland for Christmas 2005, reaching #3 in the UK. All proceeds from the latter release were donated towards a mixture of homeless charities and "Justice for Kirsty", a campaign to find out the truth behind MacColl's death in 2000. In December 2006 the song entered the UK Top 10 for the third time, a feat it matched for the fourth time in 2007.

 

On December 22, 2005, The Pogues performed the song on a Jonathan Ross Christmas special on BBC One in the UK, with the female vocals taken by singer Katie Melua. This was The Pogues' first television performance of the song since 1988. It was also their first ever live television performance of the song, previous television performances having been lip-synched.

 

Since its original release, "Fairytale of New York" has been covered by numerous artists, including Ronan Keating and Maire Brennan, Christy Moore, Dropkick Murphys, Third Eye Blind, Pilot Speed (formally Pilate), No Use for a Name, The City on Film, Stars, Johnny Borrell of UK band Razorlight, Kevin Evans, Dustin the Turkey with Dervla Kirwan, and the Irish Tenors (who leave out some of the racier verses). There is a German version featuring Wolfgang Niedecken from BAP and Nina Hagen. At the Kirsty MacColl tribute concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002, the song was performed by Mark E. Nevin and Mary Coughlan.

 

Lyrics:

It was Christmas Eve babe

In the drunk tank

An old man said to me, won't see another one

And then he sang a song

The Rare Old Mountain Dew

I turned my face away

And dreamed about you

 

Got on a lucky one

Came in eighteen to one

I've got a feeling

This year's for me and you

So happy Christmas

I love you baby

I can see a better time

When all our dreams come true

 

They've got cars big as bars

They've got rivers of gold

But the wind goes right through you

It's no place for the old

When you first took my hand

On a cold Christmas Eve

You promised me

Broadway was waiting for me

 

You were handsome

You were pretty

Queen of New York City

When the band finished playing

They howled out for more

Sinatra was swinging,

All the drunks they were singing

We kissed on a corner

Then danced through the night

 

The boys of the NYPD choir

Were singing "Galway Bay"

And the bells were ringing out

For Christmas day

 

You're a bum

You're a punk

You're an old $l*t on junk

Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed

You scumbag, you maggot

You cheap lousy f*****

Happy Christmas your arse

I pray God it's our last

 

I could have been someone

Well so could anyone

You took my dreams from me

When I first found you

I kept them with me babe

I put them with my own

Can't make it all alone

I've built my dreams around you

 

 

Great top 2! :dance: Definitely two of the best Xmas songs ever made :wub:

 

Thanks for compiling thisispop! :D

Edited December 24, 200717 yr by superbossanova

Best Xmas song ever at Number 1 :wub: :wub: :wub:

I expected this. Well done all Xmas songs! Cheers TIP

Is there some way I can change my settings to get rid of those bloody You Tube links?

Truly the best ever christmas song Pogues :wub: :heart:

Excellent countdown - thanks Rich! :D

 

Same Top 3 as me, but in a different order.

Is there some way I can change my settings to get rid of those bloody You Tube links?

I find them quite frustrating aswell - they just slow the page scrolling down! Not like anyone watches them anyway either. :lol:

I think they add to the presentation - and its good that people bother to look for them. I watch them sometimes...

Good chart!

But tbh i've never really liked the Pogues :(

 

Wasn't suggesting that they shouldn't be there but if there was a way to turn them off like signatuures and avatars!