Bob Geldof has defended his decision not to include older recording artists in the latest version of Band Aid - more specifically, Paul McCartney.

For the first time in what one would wager is many, many years, the phrase 'didn't make the cut' was used about ol' Macca.

"Macca's always done stuff. He was in the band in 2004 – him, Radiohead and Damon," Geldof told the Daily Record. "But look, on this we've got from the newest to the hippest to the oldest... and he hasn't made the cut, what can I tell you?"

He went on to explain that younger artists who were 'caning it' in America at the moment were favoured.  

"The thing is, there's only so many lines, so what do you do? At one point Midge Ure was like, 'We can't take more', so you try and make it the girls and the boys, that's the first thing," he said. "Then it's who's happening in America – that's really important as sales are quantifiably more over there. Ellie Goulding, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Coldplay, Sam Smith, U2... all these people are caning it in America."

Err, Bob? We don't know if you've heard of this little band called The Beatles….