"Down Under" is a song recorded by Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as " Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", " Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is C ...

. It was originally released in 1980 as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to their first local single titled "Keypunch Operator", released before the band signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Both early songs were written by the group's co-founders,

Colin Hay Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music ha ...

and

Ron Strykert Ronald Graham Strykert (born 18 August 1957) is an Australian musician. He is best known for playing lead guitar, co-founding and composing songs with the 1980s band Men at Work. Career Strykert co-founded Men at Work with Colin Hay as an aco ...

. The early version of "Down Under" has a slightly different tempo and arrangement from the later Columbia release. The most well known version was then released on Columbia in 1981 as the second single from their debut album '' Business as Usual'' (1981). The hit song went to number one in their home country of Australia in December 1981, and then topped the New Zealand charts in February 1982. The song topped the Canadian charts in October 1982. In the United States, the song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 6 November 1982 at No. 79, and reached No. 1 in January 1983 where it spent four non-consecutive weeks. It eventually sold over two million copies in the US alone. ''Billboard'' ranked it at No. 4 for 1983. In the UK, the song topped the charts in January and February 1983, and is the only Men at Work song to make the UK top 20. The song also went to No. 1 in Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland, and was a top 10 hit in many other countries. "Down Under" is perceived as a patriotic song in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

; it remains popular and is often played at sporting events. In January 2018, as part of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Down Under" was ranked number 2 behind

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes (at the ...

's "

Khe Sanh Khe Sanh is the district capital of Hướng Hoá District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam, located 63 km west of Đông Hà. During the Vietnam War, the Khe Sanh Combat Base was located to the north of the city. The Battle of Khe San ...

Lyrics

The lyrics to "Down Under" depict an Australian man travelling the globe, who meets people who are interested in his home country. The story is based in part on singer Colin Hay's own experiences, including a prominent reference to a

Vegemite Vegemite ( ) is a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1922. A spread for sandwiches, t ...

sandwich (a popular snack in Australia), which derived from an encounter, during Hay's travels abroad, with a tall baker from Brussels who emigrated from Brunswick, Melbourne. Hay has also said that the lyrics were partly inspired by

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...

' character Barry McKenzie, a comically stereotypical Australian who tours abroad.

Slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

and drug terms are featured in the lyrics. They open with the singer ''travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie''. In Australian slang "fried-out" means lowered on chopped suspension springs, "Kombi" is short for "Kombinationskraftwagen" and refers to the

Volkswagen Type 2 The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the Ge ...

, and "full of zombie" refers to the use of a type of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

. "

Hippie trail Hippie trail (also the overland) is the name given to the overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s between Europe and South Asia, mainly from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan ...

" refers to a subcultural tourist route popular in the 1960s and 1970s which stretched from Western Europe to South-East Asia. The song also contains the refrain, ''where beer does flow and men chunder''. To "chunder" means to

vomit Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteriti ...

. Speaking to Songfacts about the overall meaning of the lyrics, Hay remarked: The promotional video comically plays out the events of the lyrics, showing Hay and other members of the band riding in a Volkswagen Kombi van, eating muesli with a 'strange lady', eating and drinking in a café, and lying in an

opium den An opium den was an establishment in which opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America, and France. Throughout the West, opium dens were fr ...

. The band are moved along at one point by a man in a shirt and tie who places a 'Sold' sign in the ground. The exterior shots for the music video were filmed at the

Cronulla sand dunes The Cronulla sand dunes, also known officially as the Cronulla Sand Dune and Wanda Beach Coastal Landscape, are an open space, heritage-listed nature conservation, and visitor attraction located on the Kurnell Peninsula at Lindum Road, Kurn ...

in Sydney. The band are seen carrying a coffin across the dunes at the end. This, Hay has explained, was a warning to his fellow Australians that their country's identity was dying as a result of overdevelopment and

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the America, United ...

. Hay has also stated that the same ominous sentiment lies behind the choral line, ''Can't you hear that thunder? You'd better run; you'd better take cover''.

Cultural significance

The song is a perennial favourite on Australian radio and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, and topped the charts in the US and UK simultaneously in early 1983. It was later used as a theme song by the crew of ''

Australia II ''Australia II'' (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successful ...

'' in their successful bid to win the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

in 1983, and a remixed version appears during the closing credits of ''

Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles ''Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles'' (also known as ''Crocodile Dundee III'') is a 2001 action comedy film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Paul Hogan. It is the sequel to ''Crocodile Dundee II'' (1988) and the third and final film of the ...

''. Men at Work played this song in the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, alongside other Australian artists. In May 2001,

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

(APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs from 1926 to 2001, as decided by a hundred-strong industry panel. "Down Under" was ranked as the fourth song on the list. The song was ranked number 96 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s" in October 2006. "Down Under" was added to the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

Sounds of Australia The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film and Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings which are deemed to have cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance for Australi ...

registry in 2007.

Copyright lawsuit

In 2007, on the ABC-TV quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' the question was posed "What children's song is contained in the song 'Down Under'?" The answer, "

Kookaburra Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

", a song whose rights were owned by Larrikin Music, resulted in phone calls and emails to Larrikin the next day. Larrikin Music subsequently decided to take legal action against Hay and Strykert, the song's writers. Sections of the flute part of the recording of the song were found to be based on "Kookaburra", written in 1932 by Marion Sinclair. In fact, producer Peter McIan remembered the inclusion of the melody being a "musical joke" by flautist

Greg Ham Gregory Norman Ham (27 September 1953 – 19 April 2012) was an Australian musician, songwriter, and actor, best known as a member of the 1980s band Men at Work. He played saxophone, flute, organ, piano, and synthesizer. Early life Ham was born ...

– he can even be seen sitting on a gum tree in the song's music video while playing the riff. Sinclair died in 1988 and the rights to "Kookaburra" were deemed to have been transferred to publisher Larrikin Music on 21 March 1990. In the United States, the rights are administered by Music Sales Corporation in New York City. In June 2009, 28 years after the release of the recording, Larrikin Music sued Men at Work for copyright infringement, alleging that part of the flute riff of "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra". The counsel for the band's record label and publishing company (Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia) claimed that, based on the agreement under which the song was written, the copyright was actually held by the

Girl Guides Association Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...

. On 30 July, Justice Peter Jacobson of the Federal Court of Australia made a preliminary ruling that Larrikin did own copyright on the song, but the issue of whether or not Hay and Strykert had plagiarised the riff was set aside to be determined at a later date. On 4 February 2010, Jacobson ruled that Larrikin's copyright had been infringed because "Down Under" reproduced "a substantial part of 'Kookaburra'". When asked how much Larrikin would be seeking in damages, Larrikin's lawyer Adam Simpson replied: "anything from what we've claimed, which is between 40 and 60 per cent, and what they suggest, which is considerably less." In court, Larrikin's principal Norman Lurie gave the opinion that, had the parties negotiated a licence at the outset as willing parties, the royalties would have been between 25 and 50 per cent. On 6 July 2010, Jacobson handed down a decision that Larrikin receive 5% of royalties from 2002. In October 2011, the band lost its final court bid when the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

refused to hear an appeal. Until this high-profile case, the standing of "Kookaburra" as a traditional song combined with the lack of visible policing of the song's rights by its composer had led to the general public perception that the song was within the public domain. The revelation of "Kookaburra"'s copyright status, and more so the pursuit of royalties from it, has generated a negative response among sections of the Australian public. In response to unsourced speculation of a Welsh connection, Rhidian Griffiths pointed out that the Welsh words to the tune were published in 1989, and musicologist Phyllis Kinney stated neither the song's metre nor its lines were typical Welsh. Colin Hay has since suggested that the deaths of his father, Jim, in 2010, and of Men at Work flute player

in 2012 were directly linked to the stress of the court case.

Track listing

7": CBS / BA 222891 Australia

#"Down Under" – 3:44 #"Crazy" – 2:34

7": CBS / A 2066 Europe

#"Down Under" – 3:44 #"Helpless Automaton" – 3:23

7": CBS / 43.539 Brazil

#"Down Under" – 3:44 #"Who Can It Be Now?" – 3:21

12": CBS / BA 12229 Australia / Promo-release 1986

#"Down Under (Extended mix)" – 5:30 #"Sail to you (Extended mix)" – 5:48

7": Columbia / 38-03303 USA

#"Down Under" – 3:44 #"Crazy" – 2:34

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Colin Hay versions

A new version of the song was produced by Colin Hay, coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of the original's release. Requested by

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

for use in an Australian advertising campaign during the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

period, the song was available through

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

on 31 July 2012. In the new version, Hay intentionally changed the flute part that caused the copyright lawsuit.

Luude featuring Colin Hay

In 2021, Australian producer

Luude Christian Benson, known professionally as Luude, is an Australian electronic dance music producer. He is best known for his 2021 cover of "Down Under". He is also half of Australian electronic duo Choomba. Life and career Christian Benson wa ...

(real name Christian Benson, from the Tasmanian tech house dance duo Choomba), remixed "Down Under" as a

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

track on the Sweat It Out record label, credited to Luude featuring Colin Hay. In January 2022, the drum and bass version of "Down Under" debuted at number 32 on the Official UK Singles Chart Top 40 and at number 48 in Australia. The single climbing into both country's Top 10 a month later. In New Zealand, the record climbed to number one on the

Official Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and by 6 February 2022 had spent four weeks at number one. On 22 January 2022, the Luude version of "Down Under" was ranked at number 65 on the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2021 The 2021 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 22 January 2022. It was the 29th annual countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as voted for by listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. Australian children's music group the Wiggl ...

. At the

2022 ARIA Music Awards The 2022 ARIA Music Awards were the 36th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2022 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA ...

, the song was nominated for Song of the Year, Best Dance/Electronic Release and Best Video and Luude was nominated for Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Lyrics of the song
* {{Authority control 1981 singles 1981 songs 1982 singles Men at Work songs APRA Award winners Australian patriotic songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Columbia Records singles Luude songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Switzerland RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs about Australia Songs based on children's songs Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs involved in royalties controversies Songs written by Colin Hay UK Singles Chart number-one singles

Lyrics

Cultural significance

Copyright lawsuit

Track listing

7": CBS / BA 222891 Australia

7": CBS / A 2066 Europe

7": CBS / 43.539 Brazil

12": CBS / BA 12229 Australia / Promo-release 1986

7": Columbia / 38-03303 USA

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Colin Hay versions

Luude featuring Colin Hay

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References

External links