Do They Know It’s…on the way to becoming a Christmas classic while raising Ebola awareness. Thirty years later, the Band Aid classic was re-recorded, for the fourth time, to fund the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The song was written by Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure back in 1984 to raise money and awareness for the famine occurring in Ethiopia.

The 2014 version of the song included some major British performers including pop-artists Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Emeli Sande, Ellie Goulding, and Rita Ora. Mercury Prize-winning artists Bastille and Guy Garvey (of Elbow) collaborated on the song as well as Chris Martin of Coldplay and Bono of U2-who will be contributing to a Band Aid recording for his third time.

According to the Guardian, during a press conference in London, Geldof addressed the accusations of doing the song for nostalgia purposes rather than benefiting the Ebola cause and commented on the concern of the growing issue in Africa that motivated himself and Ure to “gather the pop crowd together and do our thing.” Geldof continued saying, “We called up some giants and they said they would come again to the party. Three weeks ago I got a call from the UN saying they required a 20% increase across the board. They are very concerned about the situation in west Africa.” The song, additionally, will not be available on Spotify until January, as confirmed by Geldof noting, “I’m a Taylor Swifty,” referencing to Taylor Swift’s recent decision to remove her music from the streaming service.

Some lyrics were altered to the song to better address the Ebola crisis. For example, Geldof and Ure changed Bono’s famous line “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” to “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Also, part of the original chorus states, “And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas” where the 2014 recording sings, “Bring peace and joy to west Africa.” Simple modifications were necessary to be made by Geldof and Ure to fit the current scenario opposed to the cause thirty years ago.

The original 1984 version of the Band Aid song sold 3.7 million copies and raised roughly 12 million dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia. The first track featured artists like George Michael, Bono, Duran Duran, and Bananarama. So far, the 2014 recording of the song became the fastest-selling single of the year, selling 206,000 copies within a day of the release.

The song can be purchased on iTunes for $1.29 and 20% of the proceeds will go towards the funds for the Ebola outbreak. The music video can be viewed on YouTube with the link below. The song benefits a great cause and was recorded by a talented group of artists and is definitely worth the download to get you into the holiday spirit.

Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid 30 2014 Music Video: