MEN AT WORK - FIRST SINGLE RECORDED - VINYL 45 - KEYPUNCH OPERATOR/DOWN UNDER
A$
700
$
464
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Description
Down Under" is a song recorded by Australian ROCK band MEN AT WORK.
It was originally released in 1980 as the 'B-SIDE to their first local single titled "Keypunch Operator", released before the band signed with Columbia Records.
Both early songs were written by the group's co-founders, Colin Hay and Ron Strykert.
This is a RARE vinyl 7" FIRST PRESSING -
MA - 7345-B (Keypunch Operator) AA1 SIDE
MA - 7345-A (Down Under) AA2 SIDE
The early version of "Down Under" has a slightly different tempo and arrangement from the later Columbia release.
Excellent condition and probably the only one of it's kind around today.
A TRUE COLLECTOR ITEM !!
The most well known version was then released on Columbia in October 1981 as the third single from their debut album Business As Usual(1981).
The hit song went to number one in their home country of Australia in December 1981, and then topped the New Zealand charts in February 1982. The song topped the Canadian charts in October 1982. In the United States, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 6 November 1982 at No. 79, and reached No. 1 in January 1983 where it spent four non-consecutive weeks. It eventually sold over two million copies in the US alone. Billboard ranked it at No. 4 for 1983.
In the UK, the song topped the charts in January and February 1983, and is the only Men at Work song to make the UK top 20.
The song also went No. 1 in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland, and was a top 10 hit in many other countries. "Down Under" is perceived as a patriotic song in Australia.
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