BT Text Aid launches “You Really Got Me” sung by Dr Who, Tom Baker’s text voice

This is wicked 😉 Have you heard the tune yet? 😉

You. Really. Got-me. Baby. Heh. It’s brilliant.

Shelter is calling on people to download a new version of The Kinks’ classic ‘You Really Got Me” as ‘sung’ by the BT Text voice of former Dr Who, Tom Baker, to help the 129,341 children in England who will wake up homeless on Christmas Day.

New homelessness figures are being unveiled on the same day (18 December) that BT’s quirky new take on the Kink’s classic hit officially goes on sale.

The festive download-only single is part of BT’s Text Aid charity initiative, which sees the legendary Dr Who actor return as the voice of its text-to-landline service which converts texts sent to landlines into speech. From now until 8 January, BT will donate 2p for every text message sent to or from a BT landline, and all proceeds from the charity download, directly to Shelter.

The BT initiative aims to raise at least £100,000 to support Shelter’s work with homeless and badly housed children and young people in Britain. Living in temporary accommodation robs homeless children of their health, education and a fair chance in life.

The track is available to download today for just 79p from 7Digital and from a range of online retailers including eMusic and iTunes.

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter said: ‘It’s shocking that, in the 21st century, there are so many children in England waking up homeless on Christmas Day.

‘By getting in touch with your friends and family this Christmas or supporting our unique Christmas record, you can make a real difference to the lives of homeless children and young people.”

Wendy McMillan, general manager of BT Retail, said: ‘The Text Aid campaign is designed to offer fun and different ways for everyone to get involved in raising money for Shelter at this critical time of year.

‘To get people into the sprit of the campaign we’ve brought back Tom Baker as the voice of our text-to-landline service and used his computerised voice to launch him as a virtual pop star, performing a new dance take on an old Kinks classic!”

The rather cool deal is this: If you text a landline, BT will donate 2 pence per text to the Shelter (and Focus Ireland) charities, subject to a maximum of £200k.

According to the Text Aid site, £100k at least should be raised.

Now, if you’re reading from within the UK and you haven’t sent a message to your mum recently, I think you should. Get out your handset and whack a note to mum/dad’s home number with a message.