More thieving Aussies.

[PlanK]

Those old stealing habits die hard for some from the Land Down Under.

Yahoo!Xtra Music News

SYDNEY (AFP) - Lawyers Tuesday accused 1980s rock band Men at Work of stealing a "quintessentially Australian" flute riff for their iconic hit "Down Under" at the opening of a Federal Court copyright battle.
Music company Larrikin say the rock band plagiarised a "distinct and memorable" melody from their children's song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" for their 1981 worldwide chart-topper.
The schoolyard tune was as Australian as the Vegemite sandwich spread, driving through the Outback, or listening to a Kookaburra laugh, said Larrikin's lawyer Richard Lancaster.
"Down Under is an affectionate celebration of, and a witty commentary on, some of the icons of Australian culture," he said, according to the AAP newswire.
"It was no accident, then, that the references to Australian icons did not stop with the lyrics or with the images ... (they) occurred musically."





I don't know how the Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song goes.


Come on Aussies, sing it for us.

[kingwilly]

why now?

surely this is a jest....

[kingwilly]

The schoolyard tune was as Australian as the Vegemite sandwich spread

still is.

[Rigger]

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gum drops he can see
Laugh, Kookaburra! Sing, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me!

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That's not a monkey that's me

Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail
Gets a boo-boo in his tail
Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, kookaburra!
Oh how life can be

[Marmite the Dog]

I think I sung that one when I was a kid. I guess it was part of the plan to get white folks to Aussiland back then.

[Panda]

We got the proper words now so lets all sing along.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gum drops he can see
Laugh, Kookaburra! Sing, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me!

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That's not a monkey that's me

Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail
Gets a boo-boo in his tail
Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, kookaburra!
Oh how life can be"

[jandajoy]

Crappy inane primary school lyrics.

We ain't got no monkeys.

[PlanK]

Get ready for the bonza payout.
Those bogans ain't gonna know what hit them!

Crikey! Court says 'Down Under' copied folk tune

(Reuters, Thursday February 4, 6:36 PM) CANBERRA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Australian band Men at Work may have to pay millions of dollars in compensation after a court ruled a section of the famous 1980s hit, "Down Under," was plundered from a popular folk song. "Down Under" has become a de facto anthem for Australians and was a hit in the U.S. charts, with quirky lyrics about Vegemite spread and drugged travellers in a "fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie."
But Australia's Federal Court ruled on Thursday that part of the song's melody came from the children's ditty "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree," written 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition.
"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," the judge wrote in his decision.
The ruling means Men at Work songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, as well as their music publishing company EMI, may have to pay millions of dollars in unpaid royalties to Kookaburra copyright owners Larrikin Music, who launched the legal case.
Men at Work are the only Australian band to have a No. 1 album and single simultaneously in U.S. charts with "Down Under" and the album "Business as Usual." They won a Grammy for best new artist.
The song, about a land Down Under "where beer does flow and men chunder," was used as a motivator for Australia's 1983 America's Cup yachting victory in the United States.
The judge ordered both sides to enter mediation on royalty payments and reappear in court on February 25 to discuss whether Larrikin should receive compensation from Hay and Strykert.
"It's a big win for the underdog," Larrikin lawyer Adam Simpson told reporters outside the Sydney court.

[kingwilly]

Innit all art recycled and remixed? Stoopid judge

[ItsRobsLife]

Ban the song... PLEASE!

[Nawty]

Does not sound anything alike.....judge is obviously tone deaf.