Woodwindobit: Greg Ham

It's been quite a week for loss, so I'm a couple of days late with mentioning the death of Greg Ham, multi-instrumentalist with Men At Work.

The cause of Ham's death is still being investigated.

The Telegraph notes that Ham was deeply affected by the court decision that his riff in Down Under was lifted from an Australian kid's song, and even runs his quote that he hated thinking that this would be what he would be remembered for. Right at the end of the story about his death. Which might be a little insensitive.

So, instead, let's take a look a little further along Men At Work's debut album. This track features Ham on lead vocals, and he got a writing credit for it. A more fitting tribute:



[Thanks to Mike E]

Men At Work weren't prepared for that

Bad news for Men At Work - an Australian court has just found them guilty of plagiarism.

And not just any old plagiarism. Oh, no - Men At Work have stolen from the Girl Guides:

The Australian band Men at Work are facing a big legal bill after a court ruled it had plagiarised a Girl Guides' song in its 1983 hit, Down Under.

Although, actually, the song doesn't belong to the Girl Guides at all; it's actually owned by Larrikin Music.

They're seeking between 40% and 60% of the earnings from the song.

The big question is why the company didn't come forward until over twenty years after the song was released. Perhaps its one of those where you go "this reminds me of something... ooh, what is it?" For a couple of decades.

The court decided that Down Under borrows a little too heavily from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.

Still, the sorry story does allow the BBC News website to explain the song as if it was part of the court report:

A number one in Australia, the US and the UK, the song tells the story of an Australian backpacker touring the world.

It pays tribute to "a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder".

The song also refers to the popular Australian food spread Vegemite.

"I said 'Do you speak my language?', he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich," says an Australian traveller in Brussels.

Now, in other news, upset following a cake being left out in the rain by persons unknown. The cake's owner is said to be struggling to come to terms with the event, a situation worsened as she is unlikely to have the recipe again.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet - Men At Work

Quite rightly, the internet has raised as one in praise of Alan Connor's consideration of Down Under for the BBC News Magazine:

Of the two choruses (one rhymes "under" with "plunder"; the other with "chunder"), it's the one about sweat ("where women glow"), beer and vomiting that sticks in the mind. ("Chunder", meaning "vomit", was a piece of surfer slang also popularised by Humphries, who believes it started as a nautical warning - "watch under" - from those on the upper decks to their shipmates below.)