Men at Work - Down Under lyrics

Men at Work

Down Under

24 translations

English

Traveling in a fried-out Kombie

on a hippie trail, head full of zombie.

I met a strange lady, she made me nervous.

She took me in and gave me breakfast

and she said:

"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."

Buying bread from a man in Brussels.

he was six-foot-four and full of muscles.

I said: "Do you speak-a my language?"

He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich,

and he said:

"I come from a land down under

where beer does flow and men chunder.

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

You better run, you better take cover, yeah."

Lyin' in a den in Bombay

with a slack jaw, and not much to say.

I said to the man: "Are you trying to tempt me

because I come from the land of plenty?"

And he said:

"Do you come from a land down under, (oh yeah, yeah)

where women glow and men plunder?

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

You better run, you better take cover."

Living in 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.

Living in 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.

Living in 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.

Living in a land down under

where women glow and men plunder.

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

Kombie:
A type of Volkswagen
zombie:
probably high on pot
hippie:
Like in many other countries, hippies are people who live a lifestyle generally considered unusual. In Australia, "hippies" are stereotypically live on streets, smoke marijuana (recreational marijuana is illegal in all of Australia except for the ACT, i.e in Canberra), unhygienic and (sometimes) rude. Therefore, in Australia many people tend to not associate with "hippies".
hippie trail:
A hippie trail was a popular type of travel route that started in Europe or the Middle East and ended in India.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_trail
land down under:
Australia
plunder:
steal
six-foot-four:
6.4ft = 1.93m
Do you speak-a my language?:
While the majority of people in Belgium are multilingual and capable of speaking English (especially in Brussels), the man may have not realised and/or been intimidated due to the baker's appearance (i.e tall and strong).
vegemite:
Vegemite is an iconic Australian brand of savoury spread, first made in Melbourne in 1922. It is commonly used as spread on toast, sandwiches and crackers (e.g Saladas). It is a well-known Australian icon worldwide, but it is generally only popular in Australia and (to a lesser extent) New Zealand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/Vegemite
chunder:
A British slang word for vomit.
Bombay:
The former name of Mumbai, the largest city in India and the state capital of Maharasthra.
slack:
not working properly, broken ("to be slack" = "to be late", "to do an improper job on something").
the land of plenty:
Australia

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Submitted by

turcanin on 2011-11-09

Contributors:

MissAtomicLau,

MichaelNa,

evfokas

Subtitles created by

on Sat, 01/02/2025 - 08:30

Subtitles edited by

Writer(s): Colin James Hay, Ronald Graham Strykert
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com

Play video with subtitles

Translations

German #1, #2

Greek #1, #2

Serbian #1, #2

Spanish #1, #2

Collections

1.	Good songs of the 80's
2.	Songs about world countries
3.	Songs About Australia or the Australian People
4.	Various - Marek Sierocki przedstawia: I love 80's vol. 2 (2015)
5.	Saints Row 2 [107.77 The Mix FM]

Idioms

1.	land of plenty

Comments

theguy

Mon, 03/11/2014 - 18:38

The title is wrong!! The song is simply called "down under"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(song)

Édana

Wed, 15/09/2021 - 23:23

Nitpicking, but the first word should be spelt ‘travelling’. (Commonwealth spelling since the band is from... down under.)

andy5421

Mon, 08/09/2025 - 23:06

VJ Partyman & VDJ Looper Collab Remix:
https://youtu.be/LIkJ4z9TVBY?si=NVGcFuR3MsGbCjQU

andy5421

Mon, 08/09/2025 - 23:08

The flute riff ("hook") got them in very hot water (copyright infringement): The song Down Under was based on the Australian song. Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree. While no flute part per-se, it was based on the song (Kookaburra).

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-07-06/kookaburra-gets-last-laugh-in-men...

andy5421

Mon, 08/09/2025 - 23:39

Also Performed by Ninja Sex Party