Since it’s just been Australia Day and we’re celebrating all things Aussie I thought I’d write up a list of a few songs that are important to us down under.
1. I am Australian - Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton (The Seekers)
You can’t get any more patriotic than a song called “I am Australian” This song is so close to the hearts of Australians, that 22 years after it was first written, it was sung at the service for the 2009 Black Saturday Bush Fires. It talks of multiculturalism and all the people who call this great land home “We are one, but we are many . And from all the lands on earth we come. We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian” It includes verses on Ned Kelly, Waltzing Matilda, dream-time and the “red soil planes”.
2. Land Down Under – Men at Work
“Land Down Under” in the title. This hit, released in 1981, shot to the top of the American, Canadian, British and Australian charts. To some it is Australia’s most patriotic song – hell, there’s even a Facebook page named after it. “Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder…Yes, yes we do.
3. Working Class Man – Jimmy Barnes
The lyrics of Barnsey’s 1985 classic was, and still is, relatable to the everyday Aussie bloke: “Working hard to make a living, bringing shelter from the rain…He ain’t worried about tomorrow, cause he just made up his mind, life’s too short for burning bridges, take it one day at a time. In the spirit of this great Aussie song, that’s exactly what we’re going to do!
4. Treaty by Yothu Yindi
Arguably Yothu Yindi’s most well known song, Treaty got to number 11 on the ARIA singles charts in 1991. Featuring on the album Tribal Voice, the politically infused lyrics are a protest to a promise Prime Minister Bob Hawke made regarding the Barunga statement (1988); one that he never followed through on. This song was a breakthrough for Aboriginal music as it was the first song to chart in Australia by a predominantly-Aboriginal band and the first song in an aboriginal language to be regonised internationally. In a feature in The Weekend Australian Magazine, Australian artists such as Mark Seymour (former singer from the Hunters and Collectors) and Xavier Rudd, both picked this song as the number one Australian song of the past two decades.
5. Khe Sanh – Cold Chisel
Named after the Vietnam war battle of Khe Sanh, this hit by legendary Australian band Cold Chisel, speaks of an Australian Vietnam veteran who struggles with his life after returning home after the war. “Left my heart to the sappers roun Khe Sanh. And I sold my soul with my cigarettes to the black market man. I’ve had the Vietnam cold turkey. From the ocean to the Silver City and it’s only other vets could understand” This iconic hit resonates with all those effected by the Vietnam war. Released in 1978, it can still get a crowd going.
What song(s) articulate what Australia means to you?
Leave a Comment