Band Aid 40: Charity megamix piles on the schmaltz

Hadley added: "If you take that route, then nobody does anything to help anybody. So it's just nonsense...

"Everybody's doing their bit to try and support various charities and we were doing our bit, innocently, to support what was happening in Ethiopia... So what do we do? Do we sit back and do nothing?"

Explaining his position last week, Sheeran shared a post by British-Ghanaian rapper Fuse ODG, who argued the song perpetuates "damaging stereotypes" that Africa is plagued by "famine and poverty", which can only be remedied by Western assistance.

Midge Ure, who co-wrote the track, said it was "unfortunate" that Sheeran had not been approached, and acknowledged the criticisms of Band Aid's approach.

"I understand the whole thing about the 'white saviour complex'," he told Radio 2's Jeremy Vine. "It's not new. We've had this thrown at us for 40 years."

However, he said the song was not about portraying Africa in a negative light, but was trying to show the real-life consequences "of famine, of war, of conflict".

"And the result is children who need food, who need medication, who need education, and that's what we deal with."

Trevor Horn, who produced the new version, said he would have removed Sheeran's vocals if he'd known about the objection. Live Aid promoter Harvey Goldsmith, who was also on Vine's show, remarked: "Stuff him."

The new version opens without the sepulchral bells and pounding drums that introduced the original. Instead, the voices of Paul Young, Bono and Sheeran deliver the first lines over a haunting new string arrangement - including some vocal takes that have never been heard before.

Throughout, Horn shovels on the schmaltz. The new mix is stuffed with harp glissandos and twinkly Christmas motifs. And he draws out the lyrics for maximum emotional impact - repeating key phrases and adding a ghostly echo to the first appearance of the "feed the world" chorus.

The song's most controversial and insensitive lyric, "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you", remains intact - but is immediately followed by the 2014 rewrite, "Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you."

There's room for everyone - Thom Yorke's piano from Band Aid 20 is mixed with the bass playing of Duran Duran's John Taylor two decades earlier; while Dizzee Rascal's wholly unnecessary rap from the 2004 version somehow remains in the mix.

(The 1989 recording, however, appears to have been erased from existence: There's no sign of Kylie Minogue, Lisa Stansfield or Sonia's contributions.)

The end result is totally overblown, smothering the stripped-back earnestness of the original.

And yet, it still tugs at the heartstrings. There's something about the chorus Sir Bob and Midge Ure wrote in 1984 that captures a spirit of hope in humanity that no amount of production trickery can erase.

On Radio 2, Sir Bob reminded listeners that the project was about more than the song.

Every copy sold or streamed "connects directly to that meal and that child, or that broken woman or that farmer who just can't grow something because of climate change, drought or flooding or whatever", he said.

"That's what we do daily. And I wake up to 12 of those emails every single day for the last 40 years, but we've been able to deal with it because of you."

However, there has been a growing chorus of disapproval around the Band Aid project, with critics highlighting the song's patronising portrayal of Africa as a barren land that needed rescuing by Western intervention.

Ethiopia's prime minister Abiy Ahmed said that while the 80s original was "well-meaning at the time", it was "frustrating to see our nation’s ancient history, culture, diversity and beauty reduced to doom and gloom".

Speaking to The Times, he said Band Aid's "humanitarian commitment is admirable and to be appreciated" but that "a good cause that has not evolved with the times might end up doing more harm than good".

Sir Bob responded to the criticism over the weekend.

"This little pop song has kept millions of people alive," he said. "Why would Band Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal?

"Why not keep doing that? Because of an abstract wealthy-world argument, regardless of its legitimacy? No abstract theory regardless of how sincerely held should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality.

"There are 600 million hungry people in the world - 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do."