McFly were chosen to do the 2005 Comic Relief single, with 'All About You' with a B-side cover of
Carol King's 'You've Got A Friend.'The video for ‘You’ve Got A Friend,’ features footage of the boys’
recent trip to Africa. At the beginning of January the band travelled to Uganda to experience first hand the situation they’ll
be doing their best to help remedy. On the sometimes harrowing but ultimately inspiring trip they visited a project funded
by Comic Relief – the Kamwokya Christian Caring Community. The project supports the community by caring for people affected
by HIV/AIDS, running a health clinic providing vocational training as well as operating a primary school for children orphaned
by HIV. Many of those young kids won’t even live to be Dougie’s age, let alone get into their twenties. “It
was an amazingly humbling experience,” Danny explains. “Very emotional but also very rewarding. We cooked with
them, laid bricks with them, did everything we could to try to understand one small part of what their life is like. We spent
time with five-year-old kids who are HIV positive.
At one point Danny broke down in tears when a little girl
had an injection in a medical centre they went to.
"That was quite tough," he said afterwards. "I just saw a kid getting an injection for malaria and
it was just I was holding her hand - it was a little moment that upset me."
Very emotional'
The lads also went to a school which has been helped by Comic Relief. The school gives free lessons
and meals to children in the local area. McFly sang one of their songs to the pupils there, who clapped and sang along.
This was one of the best parts of the trip for the boys. Tom said: "Hearing a whole school of kids
here singing a song that you've written is amazing . Very emotional."
Video
Harry added: "You literally sang one line and they picked
it up - just like that. All of them."
On their four-day trip, McFly also filmed their music video for their double A side Red Nose Day
single. It's out on Monday and all profits will go to Comic Relief.
“Going out there gave each of us a new perspective on life It made us all aware of how lucky
we are, and realising that I’m in a position where I might be able to make more people aware of the situation is something
that makes me feel really honoured. Everyone should go out there at least once in their lives.”
Coming home and seeing people arguing over petty things… Well, you
realise it’s just not worth it.”
You've Got A Friend
The 'All About You' Song And Video
“I remember when Tom first wrote ‘All About You’,” Danny continues. “The
rest of us were all downstairs watching TV, but all we could hear was this sound coming from Tom’s room. These backing
vocals going ‘Bo, bo bo, bo bo, bo bo…’ That is all we heard, and we were just sat there going, ‘What
the hell is that?’.” The rest of the lads found out pretty quickly: ‘All About You’ builds on the
sophisticated style of early McFly songs like ‘Obviously’, further refining what are already emerging as hallmark
McFly songwriting qualities. The version you’ll hear was recorded not in Tom’s bedroom but the more prestigious
environs of Abbey Road studios, and comes with backing from a full 60-piece orchestra.
The ‘All About You’
video finds the band on top comedy form. “We’ve got Graham Norton, Kate Thornton, Harry Hill, Davina, Johnny Vegas,
Ruby Wax, some guy from some… Er, an actor…” said Danny. Once you see the video, with its countless cameos,
you’ll understand why Danny’s having trouble keeping track of them all.
Go
to the Media, videos of singles page to see the video.
McFLY's Trip Back To Africa (for Comic Relief 2007)
Two years ago, McFly sang the official song for Comic Relief, All About You, and visited Uganda to find out what help was
needed there. This year, the boys joined Newsround on a second trip to Uganda in Africa to see what sort of projects Red Nose
Day was helping.They went back to Kamwokya, in capital Kampala, and found out how the money you raise is being spent.
Danny told us what it was like the first time they visited. "I'd never been to anywhere like this before. You see footage
on the TV, but it's never the same. "The smells you smell and the people you meet, everything about it. You never really know
what it's like until you're here." Tom agreed with him about the bad conditions, especially the smell.
He said "There's meat and fish that have been left in the sun, and an open sewer nearby." But your cash is pushing things
in the right direction, and the boys noticed one big change. "There's a massive school now," Dougie told us. "It's got seven
classrooms, instead of them having to use the church." And, as Tom pointed out, getting an education is the only way the children
are going to get out of poverty. "They can learn about diseases, and how to avoid them, be able to get a job and raise a family
in a nice house. Without your money, they can't do that."
But even though Kamwokya is improving, there is a lot of work to do there and in many other parts of Uganda. The band met
lots of kids on their trip, and became friends with one boy called Rogers. Dougie was concerned about how he lived: "He's
living in what is basically a tiny living room, with one lamp, a fridge that doesn't work, about three bunk beds and his cousin
sleeps on the floor." Comic Relief still needs money to help places like Kamwokya's local clinic beat disease, get clean water
to people, and give even more kids an education.
Harry summed it up: "If everyone in Britain gave two pounds, that would raise £120 million, which would solve a lot of problems."
