“It’s ironic to me that so many people thought it was about a specific thing and that really wasn’t the intention behind the song. The song by Men at Work was perceived internationally as a Nationalistic Australian anthem, and interestingly Colin Hay (lead vocalist) has been quoted as saying the opposite. The term “land down under” quite obviously is associated with Australia and happens to be a point of pride for many an Aussie living a life nomadic. Often, I’ve found that Australians will travel for a year or two at a time before returning home for whatever reason. It is almost a rite of passage within Aus for the 20-something university grad to pick up their backpack and hit the road. This is the perfect mold for a timeless, and as some would say, one hit wonder.Ĭan’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?Įvery traveller who’s been lucky enough to head south on Australia flights will undoubtedly have run into a vagabond Aussie heading the other way. 1982-1983 world song charts rank “Down Under” as a number one hit in Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. It quickly gained popularity on the national charts in Australia and eventually made the number one spot both domestically and abroad. Released in 1982, Down Under was the second single from Men at Work’s debut album Business as Usual. Literally sitting in the middle of nowhere (almost 500km from Alice Springs in central Australia), Uluru has this magical aura to it and is an obvious choice for the album cover of a tight and bright, rock and roll Australian band trying to make a name for themselves on the international stage. It screams Australia and is a centre point for many geographical theories and sacred aboriginal beliefs found within the outback. Uluru, also known as Aires Rock, is one of the most recognizable natural global landmarks. The song “Down Under” by Men at Work has become somewhat iconic within Australia and as it happens, one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks adorns the cover of their 1981 album, conveniently titled Business as Usual. The Associated Press wrote that, "In the best possible sense, Man Work is like Colin Hay's cover version of his own greatest hits album." Track listing Īll tracks written by Colin Hay, except where noted.I met a strange lady, she made me nervousĬalling all Aussies, does this ring a bell? Really the question spans to anyone else who happens to be a fan of classic 80’s hits.
Album or cover men at work business as usual professional#
Reception Professional ratings Review scoresĪllMusic gave a mostly negative review of the album, saying of the Men at Work covers that "While such acoustic Men at Work tracks as "Overkill" and "Who Can It Be Now?" are quite charming and worth hearing, the pointless re-recordings of "Be Good Johnny" and "It's a Mistake" (which are almost identical to the originals) are pretty darn pointless." They summarized his solo reworkings as "worth hearing, but of course, they're not up to the high Business as Usual standards." They concluded that the album "will only be of interest to the hardest of hardcore Colin Hay fan." The album was re-released on vinyl in 2014 with different tracklisting replacing several tracks with new ones. The album concludes with a version of "Down Under" recorded with the group Wild Clams.
acoustic versions of " Down Under" and " Who Can It Be Now?"). " Be Good Johnny") while others are complete reinterpretations (e.g. Some songs are almost identical to the original recordings (e.g.
The album is a career-retrospective for Hay: he is best known as the lead singer for the 1980s Australian pop band Men at Work, and roughly half of the songs on this album are Hay's solo studio renderings of works from the Men at Work catalog, while several others are remixes or re-recordings of material from his solo albums. Man Work is the eighth studio album by Scottish Australian singer Colin Hay, released by Compass Records in July 2003.
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