A drawn out copyright case has concluded in Sydney with the judge ruling that Men At Work’s 1983 worldwide chart topper, Downunder, plagiarised the melody from a 1930s girl guides song. Justice Peter Jacobsen said “In my opinion, there is a sufficient degree of objective similarity between the bars of Kookaburra, which are seen and heard in Down Under, to amount to a reproduction of a part of Miss Sinclair’s round”. He was referring to the song sung by millions of Aussie school kids. Kookaburra Sits In the Old Gumtree, written by girl guide leader Marion Sinclair.
Songwriter Colin Hay, speaking to the ABC from Los Angeles, said that while he admitted the song took two bars from the kids ditty, the flute solo was not a rip off. “I appropriated nothing from anyone else’s song,” Hay said.”Down Under lives in my heart, and may perhaps live in yours. I claim it, and will continue to play it, for as long as you want to hear it.”
The ruling could cost the band a fortune, as the song which went to number one in the UK, USA and Australia is estimated to have made them millions in royalties. Larrikin Music, the song’s publisher is believed to be seeking up to 60% of the royalties the song has earned.
In a ‘Scooby Doo – If it wasn’t for you darned kids I would have gotten away with it’ moment, the similarities between the songs were drawn to the publisher’s attention by a question on ABC music quiz show Spics & Specks.
Check it out and make up your mind:
