Men At Work Face £33m Copyright Bill

Published by djmick on February 6th, 2010

Men At Work

The writers and record company of the unofficial Australian anthem Down Under are facing a £33 million copyright infringement bill after an obviously tone deaf Australian judge ruled that the flute riff from the song is copied from the tune Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree, written by teacher Marion Sinclair in 1935 for a Girl Guides competition.

Men At Work went to No1 in the UK and U.S. in 1983 and the songwriters, Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, along with music giant EMI, now face paying millions to publishing firm Larrikin Music, the copyright holders of the Kookaburra song, which sued them for breach of copyright last year.

The Kookaburra song was written by Miss Sinclair, who died aged 93 in 1990, became a popular nursery rhyme and favourite around Girl Guide campfires worldwide. She was alive when Down Under was a hit and obviously didn’t think Men AT Work had ripped off her song seeing as she never filed a complaint herself.

I hope the band, songwriters and record company appeal and have the ruling overturned.

Take a listen to both tracks yourself and see if you think Down Under sounds anything like Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree.

Men At Work – Down Under

Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree

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