"Who Can It Be Now?" is a song recorded by 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 ...
. It was released in Australia in 1981, prior to the recording of their 1981 debut album ''
Business as Usual'', on which the track was later included.
"Who Can It Be Now?" reached No. 2 on the Australian singles chart in August that year,
and was awarded a gold disc for sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia.
The song also hit No. 45 in New Zealand. Released in Canada in early 1982, the track peaked at No. 8 in late July. This spurred an American release of the song, and the single, by then well over a year old, went on to hit No. 1 in the US in October 1982. "Who Can It Be Now?" was also a modest hit in the UK, reaching No. 45. As one of Men at Work's biggest hits, it was featured on their later compilation albums, and a live version can be found on ''
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
''. The song remains a popular symbol of
new wave music
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...
and has been featured on numerous 1980s
compilations. The band performed both this song and "
Down Under
The term ''Down Under'' is a colloquialism which is differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Pacific Island countries collectively.Oxford English Dictionary (Electronic), Version 4.0, entry fordown under. The dictionary ...
" 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 23 October 1982.
At the
1981 Countdown Australian Music Awards, the song won Best Debut Single.
Writing and recording
Around 1979, lead vocalist
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 ...
wrote the music for "Who Can It Be Now" in a
tree house
A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a han ...
he and his girlfriend made in
Bermagui, New South Wales
Bermagui is a town on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Bega Valley Shire. It lies on the shores of the southern end of Horseshoe Bay. The name is derived from the Dyirringanj word, ''permageua'', possibly meaning "canoe with ...
.
The lyrics would not come until 1981, when Hay was living in an apartment complex in
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 6 km (4 miles) south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local governmen ...
. He lived next to drug dealers, and people would often confuse Hay's apartment for the dealers'. The number of people that would knock on his door unnerved him to the point where he was scared to open his door, regardless of who was there. At the time, Hay was also anxious about his music career, which had yet to take off. In a 2015 interview, Hay explained: "I was trying to get out of the situation I was in, which is that I didn’t really have any money...It seemed at that particular time everyone who knocked on my door wanted something from me that I either didn't have or didn’t want to give them. That could be money, or it could simply be time that I didn’t want to give them."
Men at Work began recording their debut album ''
Business as Usual'', which featured "Who Can It Be Now", in 1981 with producer Peter McIan. The song opens with a saxophone
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
by
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 ...
; Hay had originally written the saxophone section later in the song, but McIan suggested moving the hook to the
introduction
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
. While recording the song, McIan wanted a saxophone
solo
Solo or SOLO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Comics
* ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series
* Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics
Characters
* Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character
* Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...
and told Ham to play anything just to get the sound. McIan used Ham's improvised composition as the solo in the song.
Critical reception
David Fricke of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' commended it by noting "Ham's blowsy
sax and the rousing chorus of voices raised in alcoholic harmony spark the rugged boogie of 'Who Can It Be Now?'"
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
called the song an "excellent single that merged straight-ahead pop/rock hooks with a quirky new wave production and an offbeat sense of humor." Heather Phares reviewed the song specifically and summed up by saying "In keeping with current trends but just quirky enough to be instantly memorable, the song seems custom-built for repeated play; it's easy to see why it became one of 1982's biggest hits, as well as a definitive new wave single."
By contrast, Barney Hoskyns of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' called it an "abomination".
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 1982
*
List of ''Cash Box'' Top 100 number-one singles of 1982
References
{{Authority control
1981 songs
1981 singles
1982 singles
APRA Award winners
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Columbia Records singles
Men at Work songs
Songs about loneliness
Songs written by Colin Hay