"It's a Mistake" is a song by the Australian 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 Coli ...

. The song was written by lead singer and guitarist

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 the recording was produced by Peter McIan. It was released in June 1983, as the third single from their album ''

Cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

'' and peaked at #34 in Australia. In the US, it entered the charts at #42 on July 2, 1983, and peaked at #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in August 1983 becoming the band's fourth and final top 10 hit. It was performed live on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' on 22 October 1983.

Content

"It's a Mistake" is an

anti-war song Some anti-war songs lament aspects of wars, while others satirize war. Most promote peace in some form, while others sing out against specific armed conflicts. Still others depict the physical and psychological destruction that warfare causes to ...

. The song's lyrics deal with the mindset of military men across the world in the 1980s, wondering if and when the democratic countries of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the communist states of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

will end the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

standoff with conventional battle or a nuclear exchange. Hay sings in the persona of a mid-level officer wishing to learn from his superiors if his men are going to war or not.

Music video

The video, which had moderate rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(as opposed to the band's singles from their '' Business as Usual'' album), told a satirical story of the outbreak of a war between the Eastern and Western blocs. The beginning of the video shows the five band members dressed as children playing "soldiers" and being invited into an officer's tent by an American officer, inside of which are many allied officers of various services drinking and partying. The video then shows four adult men who are working as a businessman, a road worker, a war protester, and a doctor. The video then shows each of them fading into a military uniform vaguely corresponding to each of their peacetime professions with a surprised look on their faces, as to imply they were drafted. We then see them walking through a burnt out forest and come across some elderly women, who beat the soldiers with umbrellas. One of the soldiers takes aim but upon realizing what is happening lowers his weapon. The latter half of the video is mostly set in an underground bunker or "War Room" similar to the

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

facility of

Cheyenne Mountain Cheyenne Mountain is a triple-peaked mountain in El Paso County, Colorado, southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. The mountain serves as a host for military, communications, recreational, and residential functions. The underground operations cen ...

, and the band seemed to engage in a semi-retelling of the 1964 black comedy film ''

Dr. Strangelove ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and t ...

''. At the end of the video, the officer is nervously tapping his fingers and inadvertently knocks open the protective cover from the

nuclear button The "nuclear button" is a figurative term referring to the power to use nuclear weapons. "Pushing the nuclear button" refers to actually using them. The actual procedure for using such weapons is more complex than simply pushing a button. The "nucl ...

, which is right next to his

ashtray An ashtray is a receptacle for ash from cigarettes and cigars. Ashtrays are typically made of fire-retardant material such as glass, heat-resistant plastic, pottery, metal, or stone. It differs from a cigarette receptacle, which is used speci ...

. Then, when he goes to stub out his cigar in the ashtray, he accidentally hits the button instead.It's a Mistake - Men at Work
Retrieved February 28, 2019

Track listing

7": CBS / BA 223076 Australia 1983

# "It's a Mistake" (

) – 4:33 # "No Restrictions" (

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 ...

) – 4:29

7": Epic / 07·5P-235 Japan 1983

# "It's a Mistake" (

) – 4:34 # "Shintaro" (

) – 2:51

7": Columbia / 38-03959 US 1983

# "It's a Mistake" (

) – 4:33 # "Shintaro" (

) – 2:51

12" Maxi-Single: CBS / 12.3475 Europe 1983

# "It's a Mistake" (

) – 4:33 # "Shintaro" (

) – 2:51 # "Be Good Johnny" (

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 ...

) – 3:34

12" Remastered Single: Columbia / 44-03977 US 1983

# "It's a Mistake" (

) – a special re-mastered version of "It's a Mistake" – 4:33 # "Who Can It Be Now?" (

) – a special re-mastered version of "Who Can It Be Now?" – the original version was released on

's 1981 début album '' Business as Usual'' – 3:21 # "F 19" (

Jerry Speiser Jerry Harold Speiser (born 12 August 1953) is an Australian musician. He is best known as the drummer and a founding member of 1980s pop/ new wave group Men at Work, Note: n-lineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd i ...

) – previously unreleased – 3:49

Personnel

- lead and background vocals,

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1 ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, background vocals *

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, background vocals * John Rees -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, background vocals *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1983 singles Men at Work songs Songs written by Colin Hay 1982 songs Columbia Records singles Songs about nuclear war and weapons Anti-war songs