Down Under, the song that imprinted Australia on my mind
One of the hits from my youth was Down Under by Men at Work. I was a teenager, somewhere in the early eighties, and that song immediately stirred something in me that I couldn’t quite grasp at the time. I mainly found the lyrics strange, the music video cheerful and a little chaotic. But it stuck with me. It had an atmosphere of adventure, as if it came from a world that was much more open and sunny than mine.
I barely understood the lyrics, but that didn’t matter. The feeling of the song was enough. That flute melody, the rhythm, the energy of the band… everything pointed to a country where people travelled freely, where humour was never far away and where the sky seemed to stretch endlessly.
Down Under became a hit in the Netherlands in 1982. I was sixteen at the time, and it was the first moment I truly thought: one day, I want to go there.
Years later, when I finally found myself standing in Australia, I realised how remarkable it is that a single pop song can have that impact. A cheerful hit from my teenage years turned out to be the very first step in a dream that slowly became reality.
The story behind the song
Down Under was released in 1981 by the Australian band Men at Work, from Melbourne. The band had a distinctly unique sound: a mix of pop, new wave and a healthy dose of quirkiness. The song became a worldwide hit and grew into one of the most recognisable Australian tracks ever made.
The iconic flute melody, which is so defining for the song, later became the centre of a lawsuit. In 2009, music publisher Larrikin Music discovered that the flute part contained elements of the children’s song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written in 1932. The case went to court and in 2010 it was ruled that part of the melody had indeed been used.
The band didn’t receive a fine, but they did have to give up a percentage of the royalties — eventually around five percent. In 2011, their appeal was rejected. It wasn’t a dramatic punishment, but it became a striking chapter in the story of a song that — for so many people, myself included — evokes mostly joy and curiosity.
What remains for me
For me, Down Under will always be tied to that feeling I had at sixteen: this sounds like a country I want to visit someday. A song that carries me away, even when I don’t quite understand why. And in the end, that’s exactly what it did.