Great Somerford villagers' huge hit on YouTube (From This Is Wiltshire)

Great Somerford villagers' huge hit on YouTube

11:02am Thursday 24th December 2009

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Villagers from Great Somerford have become a surprise internet smash hit with a witty take on a classic charity tune recorded in a make-shift studio at home.

A group of friends got together to record their own tongue-in-cheek version of Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ and put it on the video website YouTube earlier this month.

Within weeks the song Bank Aid - ‘Do They Loan This Christmas’ - a satirical take on the plight of bankers during the credit crunch, has been watched by more than 56,000 people around the world.

Adam Lloyd, a 44-year-old tax advisor, wrote the song and recorded it in the kitchen of his neighbours Arthur and Kay Cook’s home.

He said: “I have been writing funny versions of songs for ages but this is the first time I decided to do something with it.

“It’s basically a bit of a giggle, but the words are pretty political and it pulls no punches.

“I basically put the invite out to friends and neighbours and got a friend who is a singer to do the first couple of lines before the massed choir of villagers came in.

“It was recorded in my neighbours’ kitchen one evening and we had a bit of fun doing it.

“After that, it was a case of putting the words up and editing the video and the recording and we put it on YouTube.”

With lines such as “‘cos they’ve got a great big bonus, even though they made a loss”, and “well tonight thank God it’s us who pays the bills”, the villagers have made their opinions on fat cat bankers quite clear.

And their views seems to have struck a chord with internet surfers, as 155 comments have been left on the site - some even claiming it could be next year’s Christmas number one.

Mr Lloyd said: “The response has been amazing - it has had more than 50,000 hits and it has really taken off.

“That’s about 49,900 more than I thought it would get.”

Soon after posting the video Mr Lloyd was contacted my YouTube to ask if he wanted to get paid for advertising on the video’s page, but had to decline the offer as he did not write the original song..

He said: “We had to decline because sadly we didn’t write the song itself, Midge Ure did.

“But we’re going to do a song from scratch and write the music as well as the lyrics.

“I think it will be an England World Cup song and maybe it will become the unofficial anthem for the summer.”

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