Down Under Small Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1705246

“Down Under” is a song by Australian rock band Men at Work. It was first released independently in 1980 as the B-side to their debut single Keypunch Operator, before the band signed with Columbia Records. Written by co-founders Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, the original recording had a slower tempo and different arrangement compared to the later Columbia release. The best-known version appeared in 1981 as the second single from their debut album Business as Usual.

The track quickly became a global hit. It reached number one in Australia in December 1981, then topped charts in New Zealand in February 1982 and Canada in October the same year. In the United States, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 79 on November 6, 1982, and climbed to No. 1 in January 1983, where it stayed for four non-consecutive weeks. The single sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone and was ranked No. 4 on Billboard’s year-end chart for 1983. In the United Kingdom, it became the band’s only top 20 hit, holding the No. 1 spot through January and February 1983. It also reached the top position in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, and Switzerland, and was a top 10 hit in several other countries.

Considered a patriotic anthem in Australia, “Down Under” remains widely beloved and is frequently played at sporting events. In 2018, it was ranked No. 2 on Triple M’s “Ozzest 100,” a list of the most Australian songs of all time, coming just behind Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh.

Lyrics and Meaning
The song’s lyrics follow an Australian traveler journeying abroad—referencing Brussels, Bombay, and the hippie trail—while meeting people curious about his homeland. Many details draw on Colin Hay’s personal experiences, including the famous Vegemite sandwich line, inspired by an encounter with a baker in Brussels who had emigrated from Melbourne. Hay has also noted that the character was partly influenced by Barry Humphries’ comic creation Barry McKenzie, a caricature of the stereotypical Aussie abroad.

The lyrics are rich with Australian slang and drug references. It opens with the line “travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie.” Here, “fried-out” means worn-out or overheated, “Kombi” refers to the Volkswagen Type 2 van, and “zombie” is slang for marijuana. The “hippie trail” was a popular travel route from Europe to South-East Asia during the 1960s and 70s. Another memorable line is “where beer does flow and men chunder,” with “chunder” being Australian slang for vomiting.