In the last several months, I realized that I'm once again a late bloomer. All these years, these YouTube videos of the Australian morning show "Today" have been showing up and it's amazing how loose these fellows are in terms of their humour and laidback manner. It's gotten to the point that I frankly know these broadcasters by their first names now: Lisa, Georgie, Sylvia, Ben, Steve, Brooke, Ally among others, and of course, the heart of the show, Karl. I can honestly say that there is no one like Karl in any of the morning shows that I've seen in Canada or the United States. Just for the record, the first "Today" video I caught was the infamous "Pussy! Get out of my pants." one.
When I was but a wee lad, geography wasn't particularly my forte and I kept wondering about nations such as Australia and Austria and what the big difference was between them. And it was quite interesting when I found out about the switch in seasons and the Coriolis force and that magnificent accent down under. Well, guess what? This week's Reminiscings of Youth article will be on "Down Under" by Australian band Men At Work.
I remembered Men At Work and their hit song "Down Under" as closer to being a mid-1980s tune so it was a surprise to get a memory check and realize that it was actually released in November 1981 as an official single, some time after first getting onto vinyl as a B-side to a 1980 release. Of course, back then my vocabulary for music was embryonic at best so I had just treated it as a catchy quirky pop number with a flute, years before I read on Wikipedia that it's been categorized as New Wave, reggae, pop rock and pub rock. Vocalist Colin Hay and lead guitarist Ron Strykert came up with the melody with Hay also providing the lyrics. I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics being more of a melody man but there was plenty of Aussie terminology in there. For example, what I'd thought was "...and gave me a a bite of his sandwich" was "...and gave me a Vegemite sandwich". I wouldn't have my first taste of Vegemite for many years afterwards in Japan, and to be honest, I actually prefer Vegemite over natto (sorry, Japan).
"Down Under" was up and over on the charts and in a number of nations including Australia, Canada and America, it hit No. 1. Though the song and the weird music video didn't give me any concrete insight into the country at the time, it did provide a bridge to Paul Hogan and his popular commercials regarding Australia.
Speaking of Aussie slang, I have to admit that I never knew that completely innocuous terms here in Canada such as "Dutch oven" and "muff" could elicit wails of laughter down under.
Anyways, what else was coming out as singles in Japan in November 1981?
Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu （セーラー服と機関銃）
Junko Ohashi -- Silhouette Romance（シルエット・ロマンス）
Best stuff like this is when the old Jon Stewart on the old Daily Show would drop niche phrases like Arabian Goggles or on 30 Rock the line "It's not a Lemon Party without Old Dick".
ReplyDeleteI often heard Men At Work's Down under on the radio in the late 80's to mid 1990's when I lived in the states. I also had no idea it was an early 80's song!
ReplyDeleteEven earlier than I'd thought!
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