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Musicbrainz DBTravelling 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:
"Oh! Do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder.
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."
"I 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."
"I 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."
"I 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."
| drsteevo (Location Location) | Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 07:20 umhausen wrote: And btw Men at Work stole it ... Men at Work didn't steal it. A court ruled that the flute line was lifted from an old Australian campfire song. The song was written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert. Greg Ham, the flutist, improvised the flute line during recording, after the song had been written. I listened to the Kookaburra song they supposedly plagiarized, but I don't think it sounds exactly like the flute riff in Down Under. Men at Work did not steal this song. |
| arnimf | Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 07:18 You must be kidding. Awful |
| Proclivities (Carrboro, NC) | Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 07:17 hubcapsally wrote: Why don't the women plunder? You'd have to ask an Australian about that. |
| NeuroGeek (Just Way Out There) | Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 07:13 Fun! Flock of Seagulls next, perhaps? (just kidding) |
| hubcapsally (Peeyay) | Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 07:11 Why don't the women plunder? |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: Dec 24, 2011 - 13:22 Everybody in my hotel room loves this song... |
| umhausen (Hamburg, Germany) | Posted: Oct 22, 2011 - 05:20 Can't hear it any more ! And btw Men at Work stole it ... |
| colt4x5 (scrambling.) | Posted: Oct 22, 2011 - 05:16 Lrobby99 wrote: One play per year, plenty for this one. One play too many. |
| madebytim (Denmark) | Posted: Oct 22, 2011 - 05:14 Aussie reggae doesn't do it for me |
| Andy_B (aboard MV "Horizon," east coast Fla) | Posted: Sep 20, 2011 - 13:19 Still a great rocker. So good for the feet as romeo says and a delight for the ears. |
| ssg (Istanbul, Turkey) | Posted: Sep 20, 2011 - 13:16 Childhood bonus +5 |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: Jul 19, 2011 - 20:14 This song is soooo good for the feet... we be dancing... |
| unclelonghair | Posted: May 17, 2011 - 13:22 I still love this song, and every single time I hear it, I want to visit Australia. |
| marmelock (Frankfurt, Germany, Home of the EAGLES!) | Posted: May 17, 2011 - 13:21 ahhhh what??? when??? |
| ellet (Stockholm, Sweden) | Posted: Sep 22, 2010 - 06:31 nostalgia!  |
| JamesB (Coastal Carolina) | Posted: Aug 21, 2010 - 06:02 Aussie reggae  |
| HazzeSwede (Vinyl Land) | Posted: Jul 20, 2010 - 07:25 A re-mix with less echo and the backline not in repeat,,and..well,forget it! #4 |
| Grammarcop (The gilt is gone) | Posted: Jul 07, 2010 - 13:30 News flash: Judge ruled on Tuesday that Men must pay 5 percent of the royalties they earned on this song to the company that holds the rights to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." This just in: Men seek place to chunder. |
| Nerubo (Denver, CO) | Posted: Jun 18, 2010 - 10:31 I'm like Jerry Seinfeld - I hate to chunder so much, that it's been years since I have chundered. According to Urban Dictionary, it's Australian slang for "vomiting". I do like the song - sort of a guilty pleasure, windows-up kind of song. |
| sirdroseph (Tokyo) | Posted: May 17, 2010 - 15:27 It's funny, I never get tired of this song no matter how many times I hear it! Not one of their best and I actually prefer Colin Hay's solo stuff, but still a fun song!  |
| chudd (Birkenland) | Posted: Mar 15, 2010 - 07:09 God-like for a home-sick Aussie! Shame about the law suit though. Really sucks. The Music-Mafia just keeps on rockin don't they. |
| RedGuitar (Iowa, USA) | Posted: Mar 15, 2010 - 07:08 Stingray wrote: ONE OF THE BEST SONGS EVER, I REPEAT EVER-EVER WRITTEN.... 10? haaaaaaaaaaa....a 12! Hold on big fella, no need to shout. We hear ya! |
| RedGuitar (Iowa, USA) | Posted: Mar 15, 2010 - 07:05 ehtiyot wrote: Lawsuit against the band was absurd. Best to Colin Hay and gang. From what I understand, the author of the Kookabura song did NOT complain about the flute bit. But she's passed on and the current copyright holder sued. M@W may have to give up 60% of the royalties! Sounds like corporate greed to me, even if it is technical violation. |
| krich58 (SCruz) | Posted: Feb 11, 2010 - 16:48 Lrobby99 wrote: One play per year, plenty for this one. Sorry, we need to air this tune 1/day to help M@W pay their lawyer fees ... |
| ehtiyot | Posted: Feb 11, 2010 - 16:45 Lawsuit against the band was absurd. Best to Colin Hay and gang. |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: Feb 11, 2010 - 16:44 RichardPrins wrote: Wow, that's a surprise... I love this song... always have... |
| jcioban (Between NYC and Boston) | Posted: Feb 11, 2010 - 16:44 Grammarcop wrote: Then by the Stephen Colbert Rule of Transitive Logic, my kids first heard "Land Down Under" on "Barney"! :-) |
| Grammarcop (Hey, I can see Canada from here!) | Posted: Feb 05, 2010 - 08:47 Pieter wrote: And now they're in trouble for stealing the riff from the children's song "Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree." Then by the Stephen Colbert Rule of Transitive Logic, my kids first heard "Land Down Under" on "Barney"! |
| RichardPrins | Posted: Feb 04, 2010 - 00:51 Men At Work lose plagiarism case in Australia |
| fredriley (Nottingham, UK) | Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 06:07 Wow, that has to be a world record mute for me - barely a second after the first two notes. No bother to 'beat the intro' on this severely overplayed (on FM) number. And if Vegemite is the Oz equivalent of Marmite, I absolutely loathe that with an unquenchable ferocity. |
| Lrobby99 (Wisconsin, USA) | Posted: Jan 11, 2010 - 06:06 One play per year, plenty for this one. |
| j7 (Earth's largest mountain) | Posted: Dec 10, 2009 - 21:40 Stingray has quite the fetish regarding the freaking size of the FONTS WHEN HE YAPS...Jeez, lighten up. |
| Hannio (Austin, TX) | Posted: Nov 09, 2009 - 12:04 Aegean wrote: In contrast, consider Madrugada. They come from the land of the Vikings. Norwegians have grown up since then. I don't hear Madrugada boasting about the Norwegians' days of plunder! Indeed. It has gotten to the point where a recent PBS show I saw waxed eloquent on the "Viking way of peace". |
| spigolli (Peachtree City, GA, USA) | Posted: Nov 09, 2009 - 12:00 Ahh, 80's top 40 Gold! |
| unclehud (300 feet above the planet) | Posted: Oct 01, 2009 - 11:18 cochlear wrote: I heard this tune shortly after it first hit the air, circa '83. I was basking on the lawn at the great Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Where one was and what one was doing for certain events are indelible - and, in this case, delicious - memories. I know what you mean about location and events becoming indelible and delicious memories. My brief visit to the gorgeous, 5-star Mauna Kea Hotel (1980? 1981?) is deliciously memorable. My new bride and I were taking a brisk walk around the property just after sunup and noticed a pink thong in the shrubbery. We were joking about the party that must have produced that sight when, three steps later, we came across a pair of white men's briefs. |
| Felix_The_Cat (Buenos Aires, Argentina) | Posted: Sep 07, 2009 - 11:15 Lately Bill is releasing songs on the playlist before they got actually played, and up to 2!! Kinda confusing  |
| cochlear (Kauai, Hawaii) | Posted: Aug 06, 2009 - 22:36 I heard this tune shortly after it first hit the air, circa '83. I was basking on the lawn at the great Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Where one was and what one was doing for certain events are indelible - and, in this case, delicious - memories. |
| Pieter (Sydney Australia) | Posted: Aug 06, 2009 - 22:34 And now they're in trouble for stealing the riff from the children's song "Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree." |
| Proclivities (Carrboro, NC) | Posted: Jun 04, 2009 - 11:29 Aegean wrote: It does have a catchy tune, but the lyrics are ignorant and vapid: "Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder?" The last time I checked, plunder means to take goods by force (as in war); to take by force or wrongfully; steal. This is something people should be proud of, and dancing to? In contrast, consider Madrugada. They come from the land of the Vikings. Norwegians have grown up since then. I don't hear Madrugada boasting about the Norwegians' days of plunder! I believe they wrote this song as a sarcastic denunciation of Australia's history, not as something they were "boasting about". If memory serves me correctly, I recall hearing about some Australian officials and citizens condemning this song when it came out, for its being "unpatriotic". So, no, the lyrics are not necessarily as "ignorant and vapid" as you assert. Sarcasm is lost with some folks. |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: Jun 04, 2009 - 11:18 This song is soooo good for the ears... |
| Verpeiler (Düsseldorf, Germany) | Posted: Apr 02, 2009 - 05:35 I really prefer Colin Hay´s Solo-material. This song is OK but the rest of the CD is sub-par. |
| ciprian (Ro) | Posted: Apr 02, 2009 - 05:29 always a great pleasure 2 here them  |
| rdo (DC) | Posted: Mar 01, 2009 - 17:28 cirruss wrote: I never really liked this and also do not understand why this is being played here... pure and utterly despisable pop. It's nice to hear old hits every now and then. I hate the idea that songs should be excluded on RP based solely on the grounds that they were popular. I don't think that is the case at all. |
| HarrO (Just Down the Hill from Paradise) | Posted: Mar 01, 2009 - 16:47 Holy 80's Batman!!! |
| mnold (Berkeley, CA, USA) | Posted: Mar 01, 2009 - 16:46 just plain goofy |
| Bridieboo (Halifax, NS) | Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 12:21 Fun song - love Colin Hay's voice. |
| fourwindsbar | Posted: Dec 22, 2008 - 11:58 Having owned a fried out Kombi, or the close equivalent, I admit to a soft spot for this tune. A big 8. |
| Kevon | Posted: Oct 20, 2008 - 09:49 I'm demoting to 1: Sucko-barfo in an attempt to skew the average rating more towards where it needs to be for this clunker. |
| vit | Posted: Oct 20, 2008 - 09:28 cirruss wrote: I never really liked this and also do not understand why this is being played here... pure and utterly despisable pop. You mean like Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 (you gave that a 10)? Or how about Pearl Jam's Daughter (an 8) or Red Hill Mining town by U2 (another 8!)? Pop is pop, but despisable is subjective and is cancelled out by the "eclectic" label that so much stuff I consider crap on this station gets put under. So even though I like this song I feel your pain. |
| gekkosan (Ithaca, NY) | Posted: Oct 20, 2008 - 09:19 Aegean wrote: It does have a catchy tune, but the lyrics are ignorant and vapid: "Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder?" ... Most Australians have grown up, too. Their government recently issued a public apology "for years of mistreatment that inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on the country's Aboriginal people... for the 'Stolen Generations' of children who were taken from their families... and for the indignity and degradation on a proud people and a proud culture." ... Notwithstanding the validity of your analysis, I don't see much point into hearing and seeing so much into this song. It's a silly, mostly nonsensical, fun song. Much of Monthy Pyton's is actually quite heartless and hurtful, if we look at it from the perspective of sheer political correcteness, for example. But this rhymes, and it's silly, and the video is utterly idiotic, and that's quite allright by me. Plenty of good, deep, thoughtful songs here, too, to balance things out. |
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