Down Under

Album

City to City

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Pub rock

Composer(s)

Colin Hay;Roy Strykert

Entered Chart

Nov 6, 1982

Peak Date

Jan 15, 1983

Released

2 November 198

Recorded

1981

Catalog #

Columbia 38-03303

B-Side

"Crazy"

The "Land Down Under" is Australia, where the group is from. The lyrics were written by lead singer Colin Hay, who explained in his Songfacts interview: "The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that." Hay told us about composing the song: "It's a very important song for me. It always felt like a strong song, right from the start. Originally, the idea came from a little bass riff that Ron Strykert, the guitar player for Men at Work, had recorded on a little home cassette demo. It was just a little bass riff with some percussion that he played on bottles which were filled with water to varying degrees to get different notes. It was a very intriguing little groove. I really loved it, it had a real trance-like quality to it. I used to listen to it in the car all the time. When I was driving along one day in Melbourne, the chords popped out and a couple of days later I wrote the verses." Barry Humphries is an Australian entertainer who has created many popular characters, including Dame Edna Everidge. He was also the voice of Bruce the Shark in the movie Finding Nemo. Colin explained his influence on this song: "He's a master of comedy and he had a lot of expressions that we grew up listening to and emulating. The verses were very much inspired by a character he had called Barry McKenzie, who was a beer-swilling Australian who traveled to England, a very larger-than-life character." Some lyric translation: Fried-out Kombi - A broken-down van. The lyrics are often translated as "Combie," but the correct spelling is Kombi. It comes from the VW Kombivan, which was very popular in the '60s and early '70s, especially with surfers and hippies. Head full of Zombie - Zombie was a particularly strong batch of marijuana that was floating around Australia for a long time. People called it "Zombie Grass." Vegemite sandwich - Vegemite is a fermented yeast spread that is pretty much a national institution in Australia. Some people love it and can't start the day without a piece of toast spread with Vegemite, and some go so far as to carry a small jar of it with them when they travel overseas. Some are indifferent to it, and others can't stand it. It kind of resembles smooth black tar, and is similar in taste to the English "Marmite," but Aussies will always tell you that Vegemite is far superior. Where beer does flow, and men chunder - "Chunder" is Aussie slang meaning to vomit. This song is often misinterpreted as a patriotic anthem. Colin Hay told Songfacts: "It's ironic to me that so many people thought it was about a specific thing and that really wasn't the intention behind the song. If you listen to 'Born In The U.S.A.,' it's a similar song in that there's a lot of nuance missed because people like drinking beer and throwing their arms up in the air and feeling nationalistic. It's ultimately a song about celebration, but it's a matter of what you choose to celebrate about a country or a place. White people haven't been in Australia all that long, and it's truly an awesome place, but one of the most interesting and exciting things about the country is what was there before. The true heritage of a country often gets lost in the name of progress and development." Business As Usual was the first Men at Work album; they released just two more before breaking up in 1986. Colin Hay embarked on a prolific solo career and often revisited this track. "I love the song," he told us. "I have strong feelings about it because it's looked after me for many, many years." In 2003, Colin Hay recorded two new versions for his album Man At Work. The first is an acoustic version he included so people could hear how the song sounded originally, before Men at Work did it. Colin's wife, Cecilia, has a Latin Salsa band, and on the second version he recorded her horn section and flute parts, combining them with his tracks. This became an unofficial national anthem when Australia won the America's Cup in 1983, an event the United States had never lost. The then Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, was so delighted with Australia's win, he gave the whole country the day off and announced on the news that any boss who fired an employee for taking the day off "is a bum!" >> The quirky video became a huge hit on MTV. The network had been on the air for only a year, and they didn't have many videos to choose from. Men at Work didn't know much about MTV, but British and Australian bands had been making videos for some time. The band made videos that fit their personality, often improvising scenes and using their friends for help. The guy who stands up and offers the Vegemite sandwich is the band's drummer, Jerry Speiser. He wasn't really "6 foot 4 and full of muscles" - he had to stand on something to get extra height. He also wore a wig. Men at Work hit big in the summer of 1982 and through the next year had five Top 40 singles: "Who Can It Be Now?," "Down Under," "Overkill," "It's A Mistake" and "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive." The first two, both from their debut album, vaulted all the way to #1 on the American charts and helped them win the Best New Artist Grammy Award. This was a huge worldwide hit. For two weeks, both the single and album were #1 in the US and UK. In their native Australia, the album stayed at #1 for nine weeks, and the single topped the chart for six. Men at Work recorded the first version of "Down Under" in 1980 in Melbourne and released it independently as the B-side to a forgettable song called "Keypunch Operator." They released it on a label they called M.A.W. - about 300 copies. This early version of the song here is a crude, pale predecessor to the global hit and testament to the wonders a good producer can do. >> In 2009, the music publishing company that owns the rights to the Australian children's song "Kookaburra" sued the "Down Under" songwriters, claiming the flute riff copied the children's classic. On February 4, 2010, a judge ruled in favor of Larrakin Music, which owned the "Kookaburra" publishing rights - the song having been originally penned by music teacher Marion Sinclair in 1932. In his judgment, he said that Men At Work had infringed Larrikin's copyright because "Down Under" reproduced "a substantial part of Kookaburra." The lawsuit asked for 60 percent of the publishing rights; the judgment was for 5 percent, retroactive to 2002, netting Larrikin about $100,000. According to Colin Hay, legal fees in the case totaled about $4.5 million, as he fought it aggressively. Hay said after the judgment: "I'll go to my grave knowing 'Down Under' is an original piece of work. In over 20 years no one noticed the reference to 'Kookaburra.' Marion Sinclair never made any claim that we had appropriated any part of her song, and she was alive when 'Down Under' was a hit. Apparently she didn't notice either." Greg Ham, who contributed the controversial flute part, told Melbourne's The Age newspaper: "It will be the way the song is remembered, and I hate that. I'm terribly disappointed that that's the way I'm going to be remembered - for copying something." According to Colin Hay, it was the stress of the court case that led to the death of Ham at the age of 58 in 2012. Sia Furler is Colin Hay's niece. In the film Waiting for My Real Life, she says of "Down Under": "I do believe that song was a mass representation of vegemite culture - Australian culture." Australian electronic dance music producer Luude remixed "Down Under" as a drum-and-bass track with new vocals recorded by Colin Hay. The remix generated heat online, so Luude officially released it as a single on December 26, 2021. It peaked at #5 on the UK singles chart and also reached the top 10 in various other territories, including Australia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. The best chart performance for Luude's version was in New Zealand, where it spent 9 weeks at #1.

Traveling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said

Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six-foot-four and full of muscle
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
And he said

I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover, yeah

Lyin' in a den in Bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
And he said

Oh, you come from a land down under? (Ooh, yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover ('cause we are)

Living in a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover

Living in a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? (Ooh yeah)
You better run, you better take cover (we are)

Living in a land down under (ooh yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover

Living in a land down under (living in a land down under)
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you, can't you hear the thunder?