From the Banned Down Under

It’s one of the most iconic songs ever written, be it in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Everyone* knows “Down Under” by Men at Work.

So there’s no surprise that during the Olympics, the song was used for an advertisement of some sort. First to pounce on Men at Work leader Colin Hay was communications giant Telstra, who enlisted him to arrange a new version of the song for a 1 minute long ad to be aired during the London Olympics. Hay did a wonderful job creating a ridiculously cheery atmosphere with his new arrangement, joining football teams and kidnapping schoolchildren so he could use their vocal talents in the new version of the song.

But things got dark.

Really dark.

For people that don’t know, about 4 years ago Larrikin music, the owners of the rights to the traditional Aussie kids’ song “Kookaburra” filed a lawsuit against Men at Work with the accusation of plagiarism. The court case was long-winded and eventually ended negatively for the band, climaxing with the death of the band’s saxophonist (flautist on the original track) on the 19th of April 2012, following months of drug abuse and depression post-trial.

Anyway, Colin Hay has been forced to change the actual melody which is “at fault” for this new arrangement for the Telstra ad.

That’s what makes me angry.

The people that sued the band are, in my eyes, the most evil people in the world. They’ve indirectly caused the death of an iconic Melburnian musician, cost the band thousands of dollars in both court proceedings and royalties, and prevented a planet from listening to any new version of the song with the original flute part.

This new version of the song for the Telstra ad features a children’s choir singing the flute melody, but they have to sing the first phrase differently, and it just doesn’t sound right.

It’s disgusting.

The (insert the most insulting name you can muster up here) who dishonoured the band ,and subsequently, Australian music and culture should be thanking their lucky stars that there’s more to this song than that one bar melody that can make it enjoyable to thousands around the world.

 

*This is a generalisation, I am aware that there are some babies and/or woodland marsupials who aren’t familiar with the song.

Posted by alexsmartmusic on August 15, 2012

https://alexsmartmusic.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/from-the-banned-down-under/