Men At Work's 'Down Under' stolen from children's song, judge rules

EW.com ^ | 2/4/10 | Clark Collis

[LdSentinal]

This is a sad, sad day.

Link

[the invisib1e hand]

come on, that aussie music is like reggae -- it all sounds alike.

Colin is actually quite a guitar player, incidentally.

[dinoparty]

Is there no statute of limitations on such a claim? Goddness, it been 25 years!

[Cincinatus]

I know both songs and frankly, I don’t see very much similarity. This is in no way a slam-dunk, as was the “He’s So Fine/My Sweet Lord” plagiarism.

[massgopguy]

2 bars of a solo? That means every Blues song should be in court.

[Blue Turtle]

Completely ridiculous...

[real saxophonist]

I've played that a few times.

What's fun is when you're playing tenor saxophone in rock situation, you're playing in F# and B all night...

[dead]

A few years ago, Colin Hay put out an album called Man at Work. In addition to new songs, he included a few solo acoustic reworking of a some Men At Work hits - Down Under, Overkill, Who Can it Be Now.

It's really an excellent album all around.

[real saxophonist]

And he had a guest appearance on ‘Scrubs’.

[ari-freedom]

Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be

[machogirl]

when I sang that song to my kids when they were younger, my oldest looked at me quizzically and said, “Gay?”.

[pepperhead]

Ridiculous...

I have heard a lot worse. And why didn’t Marion Sinclair before she died in 1988? Why didn’t Larrikin Music sue before 2010?

[TChris]

I think this whole category of "copyright" claims stinks to high heaven.

Is there ANY melody which has nothing in common with SOME music from the past? What's next, copyrighting chord progressions, so that any song with a 1-4-5 in the chorus is now Off Limits?

Copyright law should mirror patent law, IMO. I don't believe three generations of descendants are entitled to a residual income from one's work.

[the invisib1e hand]

"...women glow and men plunder"

a great line, indeed.

[RichInOC]

Okay, I know both songs (“Kookaburra” made it up here to the States, too) and now that I think about it I get the resemblance, but I had no idea “Kookaburra” was under copyright. More to the point...nobody with a financial interest noticed the resemblance almost thirty years ago, back when “Down Under” was hitting Number One in Australia, the UK and the US? Really?

[Freedom4US]

Saxophones come in different keys?? Could get a bit unwieldy at times!

[Freedom4US]

“I thought I heard” “Women go, and then thunder..”

[B-Chan]

That judge has a head full of zombie.

[real saxophonist]

Yeah.