So I overheard some questionable music in my living room the other day while my sisters (not me) were watching Glee. At first, I tried to ignore the whiny, auto-tuned voices I normally hear in Glee, but something about the one of the lyrics got to me.
"And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime"
What... That's obviously not true. It snows in many places in Africa, ranging from the high mountain ranges in South Africa to the Atlas mountains in Morocco. To think otherwise is to be ignorant.
On to the next few lines.
"The greatest gift they'll get this year is life/ Where nothing ever grows/ No rain or rivers flow/ Do they know it's Christmastime at all?"
Whoa whoa whoa whoa what?! I haven't heard music this patronizing in a long time. I get that it was written to raise money for a famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s... but still. The writer of the song obviously doesn't know much about Africa or was just an extreme exaggerator. Everyone in Africa is not dying, starving and hoping for life. And Africa is not a homogenous continent that is devoid of life, food and water. There is plenty of water... Ever heard of the Nile or the African Great Lakes, which include Lake Victoria? And as for vegetation, there is fertile land in Africa, especially in countries like Liberia and Ethopia, as well as plentiful natural resources, like diamonds, tropical fruits, and petroleum.
I can't even begin to address the other assumptions made about Africa in the rest of the song. So, I'll leave it up to you! If you want to see the rest of the lyrics for yourself, click here, or if you don't like reading, watch the video here. If you want to see the Glee version in all its edited glory, click here.
And aside from this questionable Christmas song, I really do wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy holidays!