MEN AT WORK

written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert

produced by Peter McIan

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I’m making this page June 29th, 2021, the 68th birthday of Colin

James Hay, co-founder, frontman and lead singer of Australian pop

group Men At Work. Happy Birthday, CH!!

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I was amused and a bit excited today to see that Colin is now another year older (not because I like to see people just get older in general, but) because I like MAW a great deal, and their songs are often fun and engaging, so I was pleased that I could pay him a birthday tribute today and catalogue one of MAW’s songs with the gesture. Although these aren’t the only two songs of theirs I know, when I saw that I’d be doing a birthday tribute to Colin today, I knew exactly the question that would have me toiling a bit—

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Okay, which one: “Who Can It Be Now?” or “Down Under”?

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I’ll admit, it was a tough call. Sure, I could just do them both, and I’m sure we’ll get around to more MAW in due time. Growing up, I was more familiar with “Who/Now,” honestly—which was a big hit in the US—though that one only nailed the #1 spot in the States, whereas “Down Under” struck #1 gold in no fewer than seven countries. Yes, Australia was one of them... I’d think it had better be.

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MAW have always had an element of whimsy and humor about them, which is one of the reasons I like them a lot. I watched the videos for both songs again in making this decision. These two songs’ music videos alone occupied a LOT of air time on MTV in the early days. MTV was known for playing the same videos in rotation and repeating—understandable, as they had a very limited amount of them in 1982 (the year these two MAW vids came out). Both of these videos are entertaining—between “Who/Now”’s short parade of bizarre characters showing up at the door, and “Down Under”’s entire series of comically overblown antics as innocently narrated by the lyrics. And even though Colin wrote “Who/Now” entirely himself and shared “Down Under”’s songwriting duties with lead guitarist Ron Strykert... yeah, I still had to go with “Down Under.”

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A different version of “Down Under” with a somewhat different arrangement popped up as the b-side of the band’s single “Keypunch Operator,” before they signed their deal with Columbia/CBS Records. The updated version on the late ’81 album Business As Usual is the version everyone knows, which I’m covering here. If I find that obscure different/early version, I’m sure I’ll add it one day.

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MAW broke up the first time in 1986, after which Colin pursued a solo career, and established his own record label, Lazy Eye Records (perhaps poking a little fun at the state of his own buggy eyes). He reunited with the band a decade later in ’96, then broke up again in the early 21st century. The band only released three albums, and except for the reunion, Colin and the others have been on their own ever since. I wonder if MAW listeners consider this an acceptable scenario, whether they’d like to have had more Work from the Men, or if any more would be seen as “Overkill.” Har-dee-har.

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P.S. The album’s insert has the word in the first line spelled as “combie,” yet I cannot find that spelling anywhere else—it’s also flagged in editing/draft mode of this site. (Although it’s also flagging “chunder.” For that matter, in the insert, there’s also an “Oh!” right before the third chorus with eight exclamation points after it, so...) The more acceptable spelling seems to be “kombi,” so that’s the spelling I’ll be using.

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A little vocabulary for the non-Australians to help you follow along—

kombi (n): a minivan.

zombie (n): weed—or a drug of a similar variety.

Vegemite (n): food paste and spread somewhat bearing resemblance to peanut butter. Reportedly not exactly the most appetizing of cuisines. (See also: “chunder.”)

chunder (v): to puke, to hurl, to vomit, to spew chunks. (See also: “Vegemite.”)

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

music video

Lyrics

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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 muscles / 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” / Lying 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 / (“Do you) Come from a land down under?” Oooh yeah, yeah / “Where women glow and men plunder? / Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?” Ahhh / “You better run, you better take cover” ’Cause we are / Livin’ in a land down under / Where women glow and men plunder / Can you hear thunder (Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?) / You better run, you better take cover / Livin’ in a land down under / Where women glow and men plunder / Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder? Oooh yeah / You better run, you better take cover, ’cause we are / Livin’ in a land down under, oh yooo / Where women glow and men plunder / Can you hear thunder (Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?) / You better run, you better take cover / (Livin’ in a land down under) Livin’ in a land down under / (Where women glow and men plunder) / Heeeeeeeeyyyy, yeah-ha-hey (Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?)/[fade]

first release: Down Under (single) (1981/11/02)

second/album release: Business As Usual (1981/11/09)