Down Under - Men At Work (1983)

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[1980-1984 Best Songs]

Billboard Top 100, 1983, #4

Remember the Australia craze??

Olivia Newton-John, Crocodile Dundee, "G'day, mate! Put anotha shrimp on tha bawbie!", koala bears, kangaroos, Aborigines, Foster's Lager (okay, so I still like the Foster's)...

The Aussies were so cool! They were like the Californians of Great Britain, but 10,000 miles away - all sun-bathed and blond and beautiful, partying on the beach (in January!), with the funny accents and all.

We wore their clothes, learned their catch-phrases, ate their food. People with money flew there on Qantas and tried it all out first hand. The rest of us went to Outback Steakhouse.

And Men At Work gave it all a theme song. Catchy, musical, easy to sing along to (or fake it, anyway), with lots of native-sounding Australian musical influences.

Ironically, the song is more a lamentation of Australian over-commercialization than just a modern Waltzing Matilda. But you don't care about that, so I won't ruin it for you!

I still have no idea what Vegemite is.