10 Famous Songs Whose Meaning The Fans (And The Pundits) Got Wrong
5. Down Under - Men At Work
In the same mold as Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, Down Under has been interpreted as nationalistic celebration of its artist’s native country, in this case Australia. But as with Springsteen’s song, the nuance is missed because as Colin Hay, who penned the song, put it, “people like drinking beer and throwing their arms up in the air and feeling nationalistic.”
The irony is that the chorus is far more nuanced than its iconic first line suggests:
Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover
Well, the women might glow, but there are no positive connotations to plunder.
Colin Hay, confirmed this: “The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that."