Men at Work

Australian band Men at Work were left fuming today as a judge ruled that their world famous song ‘Down under’ stole integral parts of its flute melody from a children’s song.

The band may now face huge fines and be forced to give a large amount of compensation to the original writer of the melody – a campfire songwriter.

The judge ruled that Men at Work plagiarised the original song, which talked about kookaburas, monkeys and gum drops. It was written by a now deceased Girl Guide leader called Marion Sinclair.

Men at Work

The original song went all the way to Number 1 in both Australia and the United Kingdom during the 1980s. It was even a part of Australia’s closing ceremony for the 2000 Olympic Games.

The band claimed that the flute riff was added after the original song was made, and that they did not intend to copy any large part of the song.

The music company representing the original writer could attempt to claim as much as 60% of the royalties from the song, which over the course of the last 20 years could total millions of dollars.

Men and Work will reconvene with the lawyers of Larrikin Music on February 25 to attempt to come to some sort of deal.

The original song, Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree was writen by Marion Sinclair in 1932.