‘Down Under’ Loses Its Flute

Men At Work leader Colin Hay has re-recorded the band’s “Down Under” – without the infamous flute riff that landed it in court.

An Australian court decreed in 2009 that 5 percent of royalties must go to publisher Larrikin Music, which owns 1930s children’s song “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” from which the “Downunder” riff was borrowed.

The riff was used to emphasise the song’s Australiana theme. Hay was angered that the court case put a negative spin on the originality of the song – which topped the US, UK, Canada and Australian charts in 1982.

So when telecommunications giant Telstra chose “Down Under” for its marketing during the London Olympics, Hay used the opportunity to show it “was still a great song” without the flute.

Flautist Greg Ham’s body was found in his home in April: at his funeral, his widow said that the implications of the court case left him devastated.