"Last Christmas was originally released in 1984, but lost the top spot to Band Aid's single, which raised money for famine relief in Ethiopia."

"The charity made a renewed bid for the charts this year, with a 40th anniversary 'ultimate mix' of Do They Know Its Christmas, blending vocals from the various versions of the song that have been recorded over the years, But the re-release faltered after a row over the lyrics, with critics calling the song outdated and colonialist, and Ed Sheeran saying he wasn't asked for permission to re-use his voice. In the end, the song charted at number 12, nestled between Kelly Clarkson's Underneath The Tree and Andy Williams' 1963 standard It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year."

BBC gives us the latest news about this year's Christmas pop charts, in "Wham! are Christmas number one for a second time."

It's funny to think of Wham and that charity duking it out over the decades. And right now, Wham has the moral high ground, because Band Aid's moralistic posturing became politically incorrect. 

But Band Aid is still a charity. Shouldn't Ed Sheeran have registered his objection privately and accepted the flow of money to what presumably is still a reasonably good cause? Reading that linked article, I see that Sheeren cited a statement made by a rapper who, 10 years ago, declined to participate in Band Aid because things like that "perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa's economic growth, tourism, and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity."

The rapper, Fuse ODG, who is British-Ghanian, said "there's a way to do things without destroying our collective pride. There's a way to do things without it costing us in tourism, in investment, you know? We could make it more like a partnership - solidarity instead of charity."

The objection is surprisingly right wing! It repels tourists and investors.

That's different from the usual criticism from the left — that Band Aid is "colonial" and "more about making white people feel good than helping anyone."

"At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shame."

"There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle guns into DC, and to storm the Capitol."

"I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require."

Mitt Romney texted Mitch McConnell on January 2, 2020, quoted in "The Juiciest Revelations From Mitt Romney’s Tell-All Biography" (NY Magazine).

Romney wrote that he'd just heard "from Angus King, who said that he had spoken with a senior official at the Pentagon who reports that they are seeing very disturbing social media traffic regarding the protests planned on the 6th."

Another "revelation" from the book:

"I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case. At the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all."

"We have spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day, all over the world. These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before ‘Let’s Get It On’ was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone. I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy. I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake."

Said Ed Sheeran, quoted in "Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case Over Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’/The pop star was accused of copying the 1973 classic for his 2014 hit 'Thinking Out Loud.' He described the chords both songs use as 'common building blocks'" (NYT).

"As Elvis Costello pointed out back in 2021 when social media users accused Olivia Rodrigo of lifting elements of 'Pump It Up' for her song 'Brutal'..."

"... most songs borrow from what came before them to some degree. (After all, there are only so many chords!) 'It’s how rock and roll works,' Costello said. 'You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy.'"

 
From "Why We All Should Be Rooting for Ed Sheeran to Win His Plagiarism Trial/The case, which claims that Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' is too similar to Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On,' sets a dangerous precedent" (Inside Hook).

"Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs … You could go from Let it Be to No Woman, No Cry and switch back."

Testified Ed Sheeran, quoted in "Ed Sheeran testifies in Marvin Gaye plagiarism case: ‘Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs’/Appearing in New York court, singer-songwriter defends his ballad Thinking Out Loud against similarities with Gaye’s song Let’s Get It On" (The Guardian).

A musicologist for Sheeran has said the chord sequence is not unique, and gave numerous other examples of its use in songs by artists such as Donovan and the Seekers.... 

Sheeran has been accused of plagiarism numerous times before. In April 2022 he won a UK court battle over biggest hit, Shape of You.... In 2017, he added writers of the TLC song No Scrubs to the credits of Shape of You, after similarities had been spotted by fans, though no legal case was brought against him. Also in 2017, he settled out of court after songwriters of the Matt Cardle song Amazing claimed it had been copied by Sheeran for his song Photograph. Sheeran later said he regretted the settlement, as “the floodgates opened” to further plagiarism claims....

He made a target out of himself. Avoiding 2 fights early on, he attracted these new disputes, and he must fight or continually pay out money for the routine privilege of singing simple pop songs, which, as he testified, all sound alike. 

"The OW Hook (in Oh Why) is the central part of the song and reflects the song’s slow, brooding and questioning mood. ... [T]he OI Phrase (in Shape of You) plays a very different role..."

"... something catchy to fill the bar before each repeated phrase ‘I’m in love with your body’. The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale for the melody is so short, simple, commonplace and obvious in the context of the rest of the song that it is not credible that Mr Sheeran sought out inspiration from other songs to come up with it. As to the combination of elements upon which the defendants rely, even if Mr Sheeran had gone looking for inspiration, then Oh Why is far from an obvious source, given the stark contrast between the dark mood created by the OW Hook in Oh Why and the upbeat, dance feel that Mr Sheeran was looking to create with Shape.” 

Wrote the judge, quoted in "Ed Sheeran wins Shape of You copyright court case" (London Times). 

Sheeran is also quoted in the article. He wants people to know how much it hurts to be sued for copyright infringement, to be portrayed as a “magpie.” He's hoping that because he took on the burden of fighting the lawsuit rather than just settling, there will be fewer claims like this in the future.

Here, I put the 2 songs together in a playlist so you can compare. Sheeran admits he understands why the writers of "Oh Why" thought he'd ripped them off, but he had not, he says, heard the song before he'd come up with the idea used in "Shape of You."

Everybody's talking about "Game of Thrones."

I see that the entire "Most Viewed" list at The Vulture is about "Game of Thrones":

8 separate articles, all beating everything else. I get it that the 7th season premiered last night. I have no idea why it matters so much (especially if the most interesting thing is that Ed Sheeran did a cameo (and I do know who Ed Sheeran is (see, I have a tag for him (I even like him)))).

I've never watched even part of any episode. I really don't even know what it's about other than it's set somewhere in the distant past and there are a lot of characters, enough for there to be a lot of them dying, season after season. I find it hard to understand how people are interested in such large numbers of characters when it seems to be well known by now that the idea is to kill them off. I need to invest in caring about them so it will hurt or at least shock me when they are killed?

That sounds like a lot of work. I don't see the entertainment value. Is it the sets and costumes? The talk-talk-talk in English accents? The talk-talk-talk suddenly interrupted by garish murder? I have no idea. I've heard that "Game of Thrones" has "changed television forever" and that sort of thing. I genuinely have no idea why.

What it means to say "He broke me" — the words Kathy Griffin said 3 times and made her cry.

Here's yesterday's post about Griffin's "He broke me." She'd lawyered up, and she'd moved beyond her sincere apology for going too far and wanted all the people who were outraged and attacking her to know that now they'd gone too far, and they had become the bullies. But it shifted from crying out about all the many people who were swarming her, to a focus on the one man, Trump. The key phrase was "He broke me." That one man, he broke her.

If you do a Google image search for "broke me," you'll see something like this:



"Broke me" belongs in melodramatic speech about a love relationship. Where did that visualization of Trump come from? Kathy Griffin never had a love relationship Donald Trump — did she?! — so how could there have been an emotional reservoir from which "He broke me" could spring?

You might argue, it wasn't that kind of "broke me." It was like breaking a horse. She sees herself as a wild, untamed creature — galloping comedy, running free. And Trump tamed her. He got that saddle on her and he's riding her. No. I'm not seeing that.

She was in relationship mode. "He broke me" is of a piece with: I really loved him. But how can that make sense?! It made enough sense for her to stop and listen to herself and say it again and hear herself again and say it once more with overly passionate feeling, like a ham actress in a bad movie. Why?! Where did that come from?

One answer is: We (some of us) are experiencing Donald Trump as our boyfriend. We love him in a romantic way. It's easy to see that we felt like that about Obama. I wrote a post in 2014 about how I already had 54 post with my tag "Obama the Boyfriend." It is something that happens with political leaders, romantic fixation. It was especially strong with Obama, and we could see it and (often) confess to it, because he was outwardly so charming and attractive and we wanted to be seen loving him.

But Trump?! Could Trump's success — his bizarre, how-the-hell-did-that-happen? success — be explained as romantic love? Throughout the campaign season, I know, I always opposed Trump on the sheer merits, but I also observed myself rooting for him. It was absurd, and yet I saw it happening for months. I didn't want him to win, so what was this crazy elation when he did win? I asked myself that question over and over again and observed myself on the heightened scrutiny level of knowing I was doing it and that it was bizarre.

I'm not making a new tag for this. I'll just give it my old tag "Trump derangement syndrome." It's a love/hate relationship.

ADDED:

"I find myself seeing the world through a screen and not my own eyes."

Said Ed Sheeran, quitting social media.

"To my family and friends, if you love me you will understand me buggering off for a bit," he wrote.

Here's Ed Sheeran's YouTube page, which I put up because I imagined the "Who's Ed Sheeran?" comments that were about to be posted, and now I'm imagining the commenters who think they'd be displaying a cool sense of humor if they now wrote "Who's Ed Sheeran?"

"10 Times Ed Sheeran Slayed A Cover Song."

That's what I'm listening to at 5:28 a.m., here in Madison, Wisconsin.

"People used to feel sorry for us Muslim women and think we must be ashamed of ourselves for covering up..."

"... but now they see all these pictures online of us smiling and looking happy and fashionable and realize it’s not a sign of oppression," says Zulfiye Tufa, 24, who Instagrams a hijab selfie every day.

"Modesty is the opposite of what Instagram is about, so it can certainly be controversial," said Melanie Elturk, 29, founder of a Chicago company that markets head scarves and modest clothing. We're told she "tries to limit the number of selfies she posts to keep her ego in check."

Quoted in "A Makeover for the Hijab, via Instagram/Muslim Women Add Personal Style to a Traditional Garment," where I learned a new word: mipsters (i.e., Muslim hipsters). But somebody tell Urban Dictionary, which seems to think it's either a hipster in the Mission District of San Francisco ("Says things like 'Clean is the new dirty,' with no sense of humor") or a Mainstream Hipster ("They are hipster because it's the mainstream. They listen to primarily chart music, but some of this is a little indie/alternative because it's in the charts (eg Ed Sheeran)"). I wonder if there are multiple -ipster words for all the letters of the alphabet.