Men
in white … a still shot during the making of the 1982 film clip for "Down
Under". Photo: Bob King
collection
Giles Hardie, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports
Down Under is back for the Olympics, without the Kookaburra.
Thirty years after it was released, and not accidentally, on the
day the Olympics begin, Colin Hay of Men At Work has released a newly recorded
version of their classic (and recently controversial) song Down Under.
The Down Under
2012 EP, which will only be available on iTunes, will include three
new versions of the song – but not the all important flute riff that was ruled
in 2009 by Justice Jacobson in the Federal Court to reproduce “a substantial
part of Kookaburra”
the children’s choral tune owned by Larrikin Music, a suggestion that first
emerged out of a 2008 episode of the ABC TV show Spicks and Specks.
The new version of the song does contain a flute line, however the
key riff has been altered from the version that appeared on the 1982 album Business As Usual.
Hay feels the new version will “highlight that the power and
strength of the song, lies in its original words and music. It speaks for
itself.”
Men at Work flautist Greg Ham, who Hay insists improvised the
riff, died in April this year.
Hay said in a statement: “People kept mentioning to me, that it's
the 30-year anniversary of the release of Business
As Usual, and Down
Under as a single around the world. I didn’t much feel like
celebrating, because when I ponder 30 years ago, Greg was alive and well, more
than well, was thriving.
“So, regarding the 30th anniversary of our first and fabulously
successful first disc, if I were to celebrate with anyone, it would have been
with him, and he has gone. I wish he was still here. Cheers!”
The new recording has come about after Telstra approached Hay
about using the song in a commercial campaign over the Olympics period.
“I was happy to help and along with my friend Dorian West, created
a suitable version of the song, featuring footballers, pubgoers, sailors on the
Thames, school kids in Sydney, and, well you get the idea,” said Hay.
“The song is ultimately about celebration, what you feel inside,
what has a ring of truth to it. I am proud to have co-written this song, happy
that people still like singing along to it, and that they will continue to,
long after I'm gone. I am also proud of Greg Ham, he was my friend, and in the
end, that's all that really matters. Enjoy!”
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