Approximately 43 years ago today, Men at Work topped the charts in two places: the United States and, their blood-brother, the UK. Initially released in 1980 as a B-side to their independently-produced debut single “Keypunch Operator,” the now-beloved revised version of the song was released as a single in 1981 by their label CBS/Columbia, eventually coming to America as a standalone in 1982.
The song, while beloved here, in the lads’ home of Australia, the UK, and many other places in the world, was the subject of a legal dispute almost 20 years ago between the band and the rightsholders of the children’s song “Kookaburra,” published by Larrikin Music. The original writer of the song, Marion Sinclair, passed away in 1998, therefore the song remains in Australian copyright until 2038, where it will fall into the public domain. This, however, isn’t the case for the US, where we instead use a different system of determining whether media falls into the public domain by year of release rather than year of the original creator’s death. “Kookaburra” is free rein for us in two years.
The late Greg Ham, flautist of the group, is credited with the infringing melody, referred to by producer Peter McIan as a “musical joke.” With how Oz the latter song is, it should come as no surprise its inclusion, especially with how Oz today’s pick is as well.
Shocking to many Australians, the lads lost the case, as it was under general perception that “Kookaburra” was public domain to begin with, assuming its status as a “traditional” song (typically these songs are associated with a “national songbook,” where tunes that originate from a particular country are assumed into their national canon of musical development, i.e. The Great American Songbook) typically sung by children, as well as its wide significance would have made it the case.
Since the ruling in 2010, five percent of the royalties of “Down Under” go to Larrikin, eventually until “Kookaburra” is absorbed into the public domain on New Year’s Day 2034. When giving the song a listen, pay attention to Ham’s flute, and you’ll be able to hear the melody quite clearly.
Though the version that we’ll be linking to today isn’t the more well-known version from their debut album “Business as Usual”. Here, we’ve included the original version on the independent single from 1980, which I’m sure you’ve never heard before. Also included is the music video for the song, which is full of fun scenes between Hay, Ham, Strykert, Rees and Speiser in Ozztacular settings. Ham even sits in a gum tree as he plays the “Kookaburra” riff!
