Get ready for an Ebola-focused 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' remake

You may not be aware that "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has been recorded three times by various incarnations of the (mostly) British super-group Band Aid. The 1984 original was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to funnel money toward drought-plagued East Africa, and featured a who's who of British rock and pop. Now, Geldof and Ure are getting a band back together again for a fourth version, this time aimed at fighting Ebola in West Africa.

And Band Aid 30 has an impressively current roster of stars lined up — One Direction, Adele, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Elbow, Emeli Sandé, Bastille — plus some older names, like Coldplay, Sinead O'Connor, Underworld, and (for the third time) Bono. "We called up some giants, and they said they would come again to the party," Geldof explained in London on Monday.

Geldof said he'd "re-tweaked" some of the words to reflect the Ebola theme and called Quincy Jones about making another rival song with American artists, but he was emphatic that this is not a nostalgia trip for him. "I don't like doing this stuff," Geldof said. "It's quite embarrassing calling people you don't know, but it was that, more than anything else, that those people needed to be supported across the board, not just the people suffering from this filthy little virus." You can watch Geldof's news conference at The Guardian, and watch the original below. --Peter Weber

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