| Men at Work – Down Under Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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To GarmGarf, despite understanding where you are coming from... I must elaborate on Australian history just a little, as I get a little tired of people referring to Australians as convicts... during the late 18th & 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. This was to establish a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their overburdened correctional facilities. Over the 80 years more than 165,000 convicts were transported to Australia. The number of convicts pales, however, compared to the immigrants who arrived in Australia in the 1851-1871 gold rush. In 1852 alone, 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia and by 1871 the total population had trebled from 430,000 to 1.7 million people (the last convicts to be transported to Australia arrived in Western Australia in 1868). Many of the Convicts were sent to Australia for quite odd crimes. For example, Irish Catholics were transported for simply looking suspicious. Likewise, political reformers were transported for trying to form unions, suggesting politicians get paid & promoting the French revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality & fraternity. By today's standards, all of the Convicts sent to Australia had only committed trivial crimes. The serious crimes, such as rape, murder, or impersonating an Egyptian, were punished with the death penalty. Now, back to the song lyrics.... (sorry if this is annoying to some of you, but GarmGarf annoyed me.... I agree (and laughed) at both conflicting comments by BrandiYannes and i-think and agree with abmad on other issues... who cares where you're from, however, there is definitely a cultural reference that a lot of Australians can relate to in regards to this song. In saying that, it doesn't mean that if not explained, non-Australians wouldn't get it. That's absurd to think that... Now getting back to the song lyrics... check out this clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew. It will give you an insight into what the song is about. A combie is an old hippie van that a lot of young (and older) Australians used to travel around in to different parts of Australia - hence "on a hippie trail". Secondly, fried-out combie - anyone who has owned a combie will know that the engines used to always overheat due to the long hours on the road in the scorching heat... so, travelling in a fried-out combie, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie - believe me, this refers to being stoned on pot.... a strange lady, is just a freaky tarot reader who sits there and stares at people... she's just strange.. no need to analyse this. "Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder?" - women who are tanned, gorgeous, the men who worked the land... "Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?" - this refers to the magnificent storms in Australia... You better run, you better take cover." - no need to analyse this. "Buying bread from a man in Brussels" - this is just them travelling around the world and meeting other Australians. "He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich" - I salute anyone who isn't Australian who likes Vegemite. Unless you've grown up on it, it really is disgusting, but to most Australians, we are fed this from birth basically, so the taste is delicious to us... "I come from a land down under" - because of where we're situated on the world map (not in the world) "Where beer does flow and men chunder" - the men like to drink, then they vomit (classy I know, but a reality - go to Germany, London etc... it's all the same). "Lying in a den in Bombay, with a slack jaw, and not much to say" - watch the clip. They're all off their head.. stoned on crack or something... hence the slack jaw.. they can't talk... I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me - despite it being a shoe in the video clip, they're referring to more drugs.... Because I come from the land of plenty?" - we have plenty where we come from I hope that helps... I only registered so I could reply to these posts.... classic responses.... stay cool and be nice.... :D |
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