Certainly former rock musician Bob Geldof is to be praised for his charity efforts (as to his intentions, at least), but I find his latest public activity to be a good deal less then charitable. The Daily Mail reports that Goldof has complained that British singer Adele has “ignored” his request that she sing on his re-recording of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to benefit Ebola relief efforts in Africa.

First, I think that it’s exceedingly low-class of Geldof to run to the press with his complaint. If he has a problem with Adele, the person with whom he should take up that problem is Adelele. And if the press ask him why Adele is not singing on the recording, he should tell tell that that he had invited her to sing, and leave it at that.

Instead, Geldof, in his characteristically morally superior and priggish manner, ran to the press:

‘Adele is doing nothing, she’s not answering the phone,’ the Irish Band Aid organiser told Dan Wootton of the Sun on Sunday.

‘She doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone… She’s bringing up a family you know. Some people just don’t think they can’t make any impact by coming along.’

The Sun reported that a representative for Adele said that she is making a monetary donation instead.

So, she’s giving money to Geldof’s Ebola effort, and is spending her time taking care of her family. The beast! How dare she?

Which brings me to my second point: “Do They Know It’s Christmas” is just a terrible song, and it is greatly to Adele’s credit that she is choosing not to sing on it. Consider these lyrics:

There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom.

Now those are some classic awful lyrics. And the overwrought singing on the track is equally disastrous. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” may have been well-intentioned, but it is a wretched song, through and through.

Geldof”s current charity effort is clearly a worthy cause (although not all of his endeavors have been as straightforward in their accounting as they should have been), but it’ certainly doesn’t justify adding to the world’s misery by remaking that horrible song. Adele is to be commended for staying away from it.