Colin Hay is an amazing song-writer, and a very funny man. I went to see him in January, and this song was the highlight, possibly due to its inclusion in an episode of Scrubs.
Most people don't realise(or care ) that he was born in Scotland, and only emigrated to Australia when he was 14.
Posted by NiceGuy Sammy Hain (Member # 3150) on :
I always thought this was their best song too. Might not have been as 'radio friendly' as Down Under or Who Can It Be Now but just a better all-around song.
Posted by xchazx (Member # 7158) on :
i always liked the song but it was never my favorite. that is, until i watched an episode of the tv show "scrubs" and they had colin playing this song acoustically in the beginning of the show on one episode and i don't know why but i loved it and now i think its one of my favorite MAW songs.
after i typed this out i saw that scrubs was already mentioned. but that is the reason why i love this song.
Posted by buffalo-girl (Member # 7498) on :
down under was my fave from men at work that's about it though!
Posted by Mr. Jack Burton (Member # 4673) on :
I gave him a bit of my sandwich...
Top marks for getting that into a song!! Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
It's a keeper, nice to have one of those kind of introspective and vulnerable songs smack dab in the 80's me generation.
Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
My favorite by them! I freakin' love this song! They have so many good ones for me.
Absolutely amazing
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
Devolution here,
I was more a "It's a Mistake" person, but I did play the acoustic version of Overkill at my wedding.
We are DEVO
Posted by Nostalgic for the '80's (Member # 37454) on :
I'm a huge "Men at Work" fan - I had their albums on vinyl & cassette back in the day. To me, their music is quintissential '80's, but at the same time it's also somewhat timeless.
"Overkill" is possibly my favorite MAW song, too - it's very deep/thoughtful. And, I actually appreciate & can relate to the song a lot more as I've gotten older - much more than I did when I first heard it as a teen.
"Down Under" is obviously a brilliant song as well - though I've never been to Australia, apparently this really captures the whole feeling of being an Australian - the fact that it became a world-wide pop/rock '80's hit shows that the song really touched a lot of people - many of whom (like me) had probably never set foot in that country. The song is also the first time I heard the expression "Chunder" and the food/spread "Vegemite" - LOL.
I even had "Two Hearts" (1985) on cassette, even though this was their last, little known album. Here are some songs/videos from "Two Hearts" - this album was so obscure that a lot of fans didn't even know MAW had a third album. I liked the songs/album, but the sound was somewhat different from their first two, much more popular albums.
These days, I only have "Cargo" and "Business as Usual" on CD. "Two Hearts" on CD is quite expensive - it's OOP, and probably was hard to find even when it came out.
[ 11. February 2017, 09:12: Message edited by: Nostalgic for the '80's ]
Posted by Logan 5 (Member # 1467) on :
They were sued for 'Down Under' by an Australian company that bought the rights to an Aussie folk song. The 'flutey' bit is from a classic tune (Kookaburra something). They lost the case (the band).
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
I have Overkill on a 7" single (above), great track I would put it as one of my Men At Work faves along with from the one's that I have heard Who Can It Be Now and Underground which are both from there Buissness As Usual album.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
) that he was born in Scotland, and only emigrated to Australia when he was 14.
