Soundtracks For Summer: Land Down Under

Part 3 in my "Soundtracks For Summer" series.

This next song is dedicated to anyone named Bruce:



The first of our Summer songs that's not from the 60's, today we focus on Men At Work's 1981 classic "Land Down Under." Like the other songs I've covered so far, it's a favorite song of mine. Sadly, the song has outlived the band itself. I constantly refer to them as "Men Out of Work." (Ok, lame. Moving on) Nevermind that the song perpetuates some stereotypes that we Yanks have to the Aussies, such as liking Vegemite, speaking a very ridiculous British accent (which you may think is impossible unless you've heard an actual Australian speak), drinking gigantic Fosters cans, giving normal things strange names, and being named Bruce.

A lively tune that reminds me of happy times, like barbeques. This is one such song that would blare on the ol' boom box while grilling some burgers. That fact that most of the video takes place in the desert doesn't hurt its Summer atmosphere one bit, albeit that they experience it during our Winter.

I'm always reminded of the aformentioned stereotypes of the Austrailians whenever I hear this song, especially their portrayals in Monty Python, the Simpsons, and the occaisonal Crocodile Hunter reruns. You'd think you would expect a Koala or some Kangaroo to pop up at any time, and that the Aussies use them for travel.

Once again, I have a work-related story behind this song. I'm currently at CVS, and this song is among the several songs on the muzak, which played during times when it wasn't summer at all. Well, maybe in Australia.

Every once in a while, there's a man that comes in that's full-blown Australian, complete with the gruff accent. Nothing special or different about him, he's a nice guy. One day, when he came up to me on the register, a Men At Work song suddenly started up.

Sadly, it wasn't this one. It was this one:



Coincidentally, what the hell does "Chunder" mean?