That convict's anthem, Men At Work's brilliant 'Down Under'… is based on a stolen riff! Terrible news. Utter recidivists, these Australians.
Actually, I'm not convinced, but see what you think.
Still, all together now: 'she just smiled and gave me Vegemite sandwich'!
6 comments:
It's in their blood mate. This reminds me of a story related to me by my friend. He was back at someone's house after the pub playing records. Much oneupmanship ensued. Everyone taking turns to play records. My mate decided to go out on a limb and play a track off wood face by Crowded House even though he knew it would meet with derision. The next day he saw the lad whose house it was, who said one of the other lads had really slagged off my mate after he had left. "What was playing that Crowded House song all about?" he asked. The chap relied he didn't think it was that bad and after all they were the antipodean Beatles. taking um-bridge at someone defending the band he said "Antipodean? they are f***ing s**t." To this day, when we really like a record we describe it as antipodean.
Men at Work, eh? Expect an overly excited post from Ewar in the coming hours.
Dan knows.
I'm going to listen to Land down Under 5 times in a row now, if only to once again fully absorb the awesomeness of it.
He may be old, rich, and out of it, but he's wise. Here's one of my favourite Keith Richards quotes - on music, the act of creation, and ownership.
"...just realise that you didn’t actually write it in the first place, you just received it. There are songs going through this room right now, they’re all there, you’ve just got to put your hand up. You draw on your resources, but I mean listening to music is the biggest art. Making music can be an art at times, but mostly it’s a craft. Listening to music - that’s the real art."
Keith's right - it's about creative appropriation.
Graham: quality anecdote.
I've been humming Down Under all day.
Ahh, I love this song, really reminds me of my year in Oz. The video's brilliant too. I particularly like the bit where the man in Brussels punts the Vegemite sandwich like an Aussie Rules football.
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