Men at Work’s “Down Under” Lyrics Meaning

Down Under is a song performed by the noted Australian rock band Men at Work. The song, which was a major hit in several countries across the globe, has lyrics that follow the international travels of an Australian man who is so full of pride for his country.

His travels throughout the world see him go to places such as Brussels in Belgium and Bombay (now called Mumbai) in India. In these places, he meets with nice people who show some level of interest in his cherished home country of Australia.

In an interview with Songfacts.com, the lead vocalist of Men at Work, Colin Hay shed some light on the song’s meaning. He described the chorus of the song as one that is about celebrating Australia in a way that isn’t nationalistic.

According to Colin, the lyrics were inspired by the famous Australian fictional character Barry McKenzie who travels to England. The character McKenzie was created by the Australian comedian, satirist, and author Barry Humphries in 1964.

Top Slang Terms in the lyrics of “Down Under”

The lyrics of the song contain a lot of interesting and pretty popular Australian slang terms.

For example, the phrase “fried out” is slang term in Australia which means overheated.

The word “Kombi” from the famous line “traveling in a fried-out kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie” refers to the Volkswagen Type 2 car. This is a car that was widely used by hippies during the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore that famous line simply means traveling in an overheated car (Volkswagen Type 2).

Then we have the phrase “head full of zombie“. This is a slang term used to refer to the usage of a kind of “weed” which was once very popular in Australia.

The word “chunder‘ in the line, in which the singer sings about the place where beer flows and “men chunder“, is a slang word for “vomit”.

The “Vegemite sandwich” that the narrator receives in Brussels is a very popular delicacy in Australia. It is made of vegetables, spice additives and leftover brewers’ yeast extract.

Facts about “Down Under”

This song also goes by the title Land Down Under. It was written by Men at Work members lead singer Colin Hay and lead guitarist Ron Strykert.

Down Under is the most famous song ever released by Men at Work. In addition to peaking at number 1 in the band’s home country of Australia, the song also reached the number one spot in several other countries. These countries include the United Kingdom and the United States. Other places where this was a number 1 hit are:

• Canada
• Poland
• Switzerland
• Ireland

In June 2009, the writers of the song Ron and Colin were sued for copyright infringement. This was after it was discovered that the flute riff of Down Under was plagiarized from the popular Australian nursery rhyme “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” which was written by songwriter Marion Sinclair. In February 2010, both songwriters Strykert and Hay were found guilty of copyright infringement.

The court subsequently ordered Men at Work to give 5% of the royalties (revenue) from “Down Under” to the copyright holder of “Kookaburra”.

The Luude Version of “Down Under”

In late 2021, Down Under shot to prominence all over the world again. This was after Australian EDM producer Luude collaborated with Colin Hay to record a new version of the song. Colin re-record fresh vocals for this new version. Shortly after it was released, it topped the charts in New Zealand.