The song "Land Down Under" by Men at Work was written in the 1980s as a commentary on materialism in Australian culture at the time. The economy was booming, which made Australians more focused on money. The song discusses an Australian traveler who is proud of his home country and shares Australian culture with others. It uses the repeated flute motif of the children's song "Kookaburra" and references Australian slang terms. The song has a verse-chorus form with instrumentation including flute, drums, voice, guitar, and bass.

1. Michael Haviv presents:
“Land Down Under” by
Men at Work

2. The 1980’s Australia
 Australian economy was booming at the time
 Caused many people to be preoccupied with money
and more materialistic
 Many immigrants from all over settled there by the
1980’s

3. “Land Down Under”

Song was about the loss of spirit in the country. The song tries to bring a
nationalistic feel back to the country since the overdevelopment of
Australia made everyone more materialistic

Talks about an Australian Traveler who goes around the world proud of
his nationality and about his interactions with people he meets on his
travels who take interest in his home country.

Written by Collin Hay (lead vocalist of Men at Work)

The repeated flute motif is based on a tune of a famous Australian
children’s rhyme called “Kookaburra”

Cultural/Drug related terms in the song
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
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“On a hippie trail, head full of zombie” – refers to the use of a type of marijuana
“He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich” famous Australian slang
“Where the beer does flow men chunder” – famous Australian cultural slang

4. Form
 Verse Chorus (refrain) form
 A refrain is very much like a chorus but it is shorter and it
doesn’t vary melodically and rhythmically like a chorus does.
 Form:
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Instrumental intro (flute, percussion and drums)
Verse 1 – A
Refrain – B
Instrumental Link
Verse 2 – A
Refrain – B
Extended instrumental link
Verse 3 – A
Refrain – B (repeated 3 times and fades out)

5. Instrumentation
 Flute (Aerophone)
 Drums (Membranophone)
 Voice (Idiophone)
 Guitar and Bass (Chordophone)

6. Texture
 Homophonic throughout the whole song
 The repeated refrain in the end has a Heterophonic
texture with Collin Hay improvising over while the
whole band sings the normal chorus in the
background.

7. Dynamics & Genre
 Has pretty wide dynamics
 Genre is New Wave/Pop Rock
 New Wave music consists of several Pop Rock styles
from the 1970’s and 1980’s including punk rock, pop,
disco, garage rock, art rock and experimental

8. Thank You

9. Sources
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music#Styles_and_su
bgenres
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verse%E2%80%93chorus_form
 http://www.haydockmusic.com/composing_tips/verse_chorus_
song_structures.html
 http://musiced.about.com/od/othermusicgenres/p/partsofason
g.htm
 http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-189_t-509_c-1886/1980sdecade-in-context/nsw/history/australia-s-social-and-culturalhistory-in-the-post-war-period/social-and-cultural-features-ofthe-1980s
 http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2962