Talk:Down Under (song)

Pre-Men at Work version?
Can someone with more knowledge comment on there being a version from before Men at Work? --68.83.72.162 (talk) 07:47, 20 July 2008 (UTC) For the record the lyrical part of the song is about "Colin" not written by "Colin". This lyrical creation happened 26th May 1972 (my mothers birthday my conception day 23 yrs previously) at the Great Western festival UK, when I was introduced by a mutual friend Beth (head cook for all the performers at the festival) in the back of his Kombi Van. Four of us ended up sitting in the back of his Kombi van sheltering from the thunder and the light rain that was falling. Years later when in London at the Twelve Bar Club in 1998 "Colin" played a musical version of the work which was the same as the original musical version attached to the original lyrics when written in 1972. This easy listening musical version is different from the music created for the hit record, but the lyrics stayed the same. As a footnote when "Colin" was in London at that time (1998) he was still driving that same Kombi Van he had in 1972. Same colour. same car stickers on the rear window. Further to this I have recovered the first page on which the first two song verses were written. On the reverse of the page is a Spike Milligan verse written in "Colin's" hand. (Copy of thse two pages have been handed to Anthony at APRA New Zealand.) A second blank page from the same pad was requested. It was on this second piece of paper that the full song lyrics was written by myself and returned to "Colin". Success of these lyrics and the pop version of the song surfaced a few years later. APRA have acknowledged an unknown author of the lyrics, (GW20410738) a grammy certificate was awarded to an unknown writer and yet I am being denied proper recognition for this lyrical effort. (Also note the Reference in the song lyrics to who this lady her made me nervous is, can be found in her son's memoirs recorded online about the Great Western festival.) These memories are my own of the origin of the song lyrics. They are a true and correct version of events. I sign this Frank Roland May,  Tokoroa South Waikato New Zealand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frank Roland May (talk) 20:34, 30 March 2016 (UTC)210.54.83.18 (talk) 18:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Interpretation of lyrics
The claims about the lyrics talking about Australia being sold off to overseas interests seems a bit dubious. That they can't even get the lyrics correct is a red flag. Any thoughts? Andjam 02:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

The music video shows a sold sign being plunged into a map of Australia in the desert. Seems legit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:C:AB80:2A3:4472:EB6C:E068:4966 (talk) 01:04, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Jewish wedding lyrics??
JediLofty-The 'No Euros for Britain' and the st george flag allude to your true agenda in not liking the fact that this song has become a Jewish tune-a BNP supporter eh. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ralphydoo2 (talk • contribs) 23:35, 26 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I only recently noticed this comment (I always thought comments were supposed to be added to the bottom!) Not wanting the Euro and being proud to be English has nothing to do with support for the BNP!  What a bizarre connection to draw.  My problem with the text that was added was that it was uncited.  Now that a citation has been found, I'm perfectly happy for the comment to remain.--  JediLofty User ¦ Talk 11:35, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Please post the altered translated lyrics, or point to a youtube version. --Sugarcaddy 17:15, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[http://www. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/27/1043534002655.html] This article in Sydney Morning Herald mentions the fact that Down-Under is played at Jewish weddings

"Colin Hay has a friend who plays in a wedding band and who tells him that Down Under is always requested at Jewish weddings" the article states

"Apparently it has a very similar structure to a lot of Jewish folk songs," he says. "The other day I was walking down the Santa Monica promenade and a folk band was playing it. That was surreal."

the lyrics are-Blessed are You, Yahh our God, Breathing Spirit of the world, Who creates the joy and gladness of soulmate and beloved — merriment and song, dance and delight, love and harmony, peace and fellowship. These prayers are stated at all Jewish weddings but are then sung at the reception

Through much research on the internet with some help I finally found the name to the Jewish wedding version of Down Under and posted it on the article. Hope this is of some use/good to anyone who was looking for this version. ~

The Lyrics
Would it help this article to post the song's lyrics and to decipher some of the words used in said lyrics?Orcagon 04:17, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

What the song is about
Information from the Men at Work article would help this one. Especially the paragraph stating it wasn't meant as a happy, patriotic song, but one complaining about the selling out of Australia. &mdash; Frecklefoot | Talk 21:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Lyrics
Now that all the references to a darker interpretation of the song have been removed, the line "It has become a popular and patriotic song in Australia by virtue of the popular interpretation of the lyrics." doesn't really make a lot of sense anymore. Either add in the controversial content, or remove the 'by virtue of the popular interpretations of the lyrics'. 24.218.218.9 11:54, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Down Under.jpg
Image:Down Under.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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Lyrics - not lyric related
Beyond the last sentence, "The video also features several litre-size cans of what appear to be Foster's Lager (although the brand is removed), a beer native to Australia" (which is extremely iffy in itself, since one can ask how this relates to the Lyrics sub-topic), the rest is current pop ref or things way beyond just lyrics. Perhaps a "In other media" section should be started, since 2000 Summer Olympics, ARPA, Triple M, VH1, Qantas and Saints Row 2 are all linked to the song, not necessarily the lyrics. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 20:42, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Broken Footnote, Missing Timestamp
Quoted from page: "The flute part in the song accused of being based around the tune of "Kookaburra", a well-known Australian children's rhyme. A lawsuit on that question is currently ongoing.[2]"

The lawsuit is "currently" ongoing? First, people need to remember that this isn't IM, it's a persistent article, and the vast majority of your readers are reading on a day other than when you posted. Therefore, this, at minimum, is in need of an "as of " clause. Also, the footnote on the lawsuit is a broken link. Again, try to remember you're not on IM: the NYT page that link redirects to mentions that articles of the type apparently linked to are available for a mere 7 days. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.222.45.234 (talk • contribs) 29 September 2009


 * It looks like the references were removed accidentally by a previous editor. I've added back the references, but haven't updated the text.  Some possible additional references to expand the section include:
 * http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26276658-29277,00.html
 * http://www.theage.com.au/national/lead-singer-denies-kookaburra-link-20091028-hl0k.html
 * --James (talk) 07:05, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Solowing106
Awesome. In the music video, I like the way those guys are dancing.--Solowing106 (talk) 21:03, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

cover versions
I know Pennywise did a cover as well. On their 1999 album Straight Ahead (at least for the Australian release of that album).&#42;*** you, you ******* ****. (talk) 08:49, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

popular and patriotic
The article cited does not mention either of the words "popular" and "patriotic". It says "The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia", but this is not the same thing. &#42;*** you, you ******* ****. (talk) 09:22, 9 May 2012 (UTC)


 * A summary is not paraphrasing. By definition an unofficial anthem has to be both popular and patriotic (or it would not be an unofficial anthem). Official anthems do not have to be popular. -- PBS (talk) 14:17, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

'Allegedly'?
There are several mentions in the article of being 'allegedly' (part) based on Kookaburra. Given that this is now proven in court (see the references in the article), shouldn't the word 'allegedly' be removed? TheOverflow (talk) 23:57, 24 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Now removed.TheOverflow (talk) 05:25, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

"also known as"
Is it "Also known as 'Land Down Under'" or is this just what a lot of people who don't know the proper name of the song call it?124.169.249.234 (talk) 13:11, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Spicks and Specks exposes the truth, but in what year?
Hey, I just watched this episode of Spicks and Specks where the loaded question was infamously asked. It was the children's songs special, but the copyright on it at the end says 2007, not 2008. I think whoever quoted that news.com.au article just assumed it was from 2008 because that's when the article was written. I looked into it further and this website (http://thetvdb.com/?tab=seasonall&id=81358&lid=7) confirms the original air date for the Kids Music Special was the 26th of September, 2007. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Witcheemon (talk • contribs) 13:17, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

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Ninja Sex Party's Version
Ninja Sex Party, an American musical comedy duo, covered the song on their 2019 album Under The Covers Vol III

Since there is a section noting another cover in the article, it should probably be added. After all, the article itself has a wikipedia page ( Under the Covers, Vol. III ) and all the songs are listed there and linked to all of the song pages, including this one.

Under the Covers, Vol. III Charts for reference:

Dominakiara (talk) 04:56, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Same rational as Talk:(Don't Fear) The Reaper -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 05:11, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

"Commie" vs "Kombi" in lyrics?
Can anyone confirm the correct lyric for the first line of the song? I hear "travelling in a fried out Kombi" but the Lyrics section of this article suggest the lyric is "travelling in a fried-out Commie". The video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s) features the former and not a Holden Commodore and I certainly hear the word Kombi when I listen to the song. MJ (talk) 09:13, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

Songs in other languages with the same melody
Not sure if my title is a good one, but when in Hong Kong in the 1980s I heard an Alan Tam song with the same melody as this song. At the time, I didn't know the Men at Work song and assumed it was another of the many Cantopop songs at the time where the melody was based on J-Pop songs and new Cantonese lyrics were written on top. I would dearly love to know the title of the Alan Tam song. I also assume that other countries will probably have taken the melody and created their own versions. If anyone has access to that kind of information, it would make for a great extra section to the article. Ricklaman (talk) 02:54, 2 June 2023 (UTC)