Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Down Under (1981)

play
clip
  • 1
'I come from a land down under'

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Men at Work sing about travelling the world and what it means to come 'from a land down under’.

Curator’s notes

by Martin Ford

Men at Work’s front-man, Colin Hay, describes the song as being ‘about the selling of Australia’ (the chorus ironically refers to a land where ‘men plunder’). Wherever the song’s narrator goes – Bombay, Brussels or on a 'hippy trail’ – and, no matter how far he is from Australia, he’s recognised as being from down under. Men at Work’s success in the US also coincided with a period of growing fascination with Australian movies – another instance of 'selling’ Australia (see Coming Up from Down Under, 1983).

The sing-a-long chorus means the tune is not easily forgotten and makes the song perfect as an unofficial anthem. The lyrics memorably rhyme 'Brussels’ with 'muscles’ and – rather more inventively – 'language’ with 'Vegemite sandwich’. The quirkiness is another likely explanation for the song’s success. 'Down Under’ gained a whole new lease of life and popularity in the wake of Australia’s victory in the America’s Cup in September 1983.

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.’