Drive

Every time I hear the song Drive by The Cars, I can’t help but remember the CBC video that was broadcast during the Live Aid concert in 1985.

I actually met Colin, the videotape editor who put it together. He edited the pieces to the music one night after a day’s shooting in Ethiopia during the famine.

It is a great example of how placing music and its lyrics and images together can have a powerful impact on an audience.

After this video was shown at Live Aid, the donations jumped dramatically. I have been told that many of the artists and crowd were weeping.

What many don’t know is that it almost never got shown. CBC News correspondent, Brian Stewart, I believe, gave the clip to Bob Geldof. When David Bowie saw it, he insisted that it be included and shortened his set to accommodate the video.

In case you haven’t seen it, I have put the link below.



When I view it, aside from the emotion that is generated from the production, I find the crowd reaction unusual. They applaud and cheer at the end. I would have expected a more sombre response. If you actually go to the You Tube site where the clip is stored, many of the comments are talking about how they like the song. They seem to have missed the point.

In 2001, I met a medical doctor who worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs. While not critical of things like Live Aid, he mentioned the reality that the world faced when dealing with situations like the famine in Ethiopia. While it is important to feed the starving people, it is also important to find some long-term solutions. If you don’t, the very fact that you have kept people alive will make the next famine even worse. A more colossal fundraising effort will have to be mounted. And if you merely feed the people without finding the solution, the problem becomes greater next time.

There are many agencies out there. They are all trying their best. Part of the problem is that the aid often doesn’t get to the people it is intended. I wish I had the answers. But unless we ask the questions, we will never solve the riddle. One of the issues being talked about more and more is the sustainability of the world. Just how people can we feed, especially if the world has a bad year for crops?