Men At Work Flautist May Have To Sell House

According to the Guardian, Men at Work flautist, Greg Ham, may have to sell his house to pay legal costs after an Australian judge ruled that Men at Work must pay 5% of a song's royalties to the publishers of a children's song.

It was decided on Tuesday that the flute part of Men at Work’s massively successful song, “Down Under,” had been copied from the campfire tune “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.”

"At the end of the day, I'll end up selling my house," Ham explained to the Age newspaper. “We'll face massive legal costs ... I'll never see another cent out of [“Down Under”] again.”

More than the money, Ham is frustrated that his legacy is tarnished. "It will be the way the song is remembered, and I hate that. I'm terribly disappointed that it's the way I'm going to be remembered – for copying something."

Thanks for the report to Gibson.com.

Comments

[SlaveToThePower]

Well he does come from a land down under. Where women glow, and men plunder.

[TallNerdGuy]

He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.

[slaveskinJACKET]

Where he comes from, the land down under, do they call it a flaut? It's referred to more than once as a flaut, and then later as a flute.

Which is worse, to have to acknowledge something that you wrote is stolen, or be credited with songwriting for 'Down Under'?

Also... aren't they a little late with their lawsuit? And isn't there a statute of limitation of somewhere around 3 years? Surely this song hasn't sold enough in the last three years for 5% of revenue to be worth more than his house.

...sounds to me like children's albums aren't selling much these days.

[zeppelin4evr41]

Y'know what's messed up here? Its that a musician has to pay royalties to a PUBLISHER rather than get credit for his creation. What did that publisher ever create? The guy on the better end of this lawsuit wrote no more of that song than the guy on the losing end.

[slaveskinJACKET]

I just had to go listen to this to refresh my memory. It's a tiny fraction of flute played right before the restart of the main part of the song, and it's placed on a completely different section of the rhythm as the kid's song. It's more of a fill in Men at Work, where in the children's song, it's the beginning part of the main melody.

The length of the part in question only goes as far as the lyrics "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree..." That's all! And they were asking for 50%-60% of all royalties from the song, which, apart from this 1.5 second exerpt, is entirely unique compared to the children's song. Also, the woman who wrote the song is deceased, and it is a publishing company that filed the lawsuit. And the judge ordered 5% of royalties, dating back to 2002 and into the future.

This is ridiculous. Next, whoever owns the rights to Hendrix will be taking the Chili Peppers and John Frusciante to court for the opening riff of the solo in Dani California being a ripoff of Purple Haze, when Tom Petty declined to sue them over the whole structure of the song being similar to Mary Jane's Last Dance. Or there will be a lawsuit for Stevie Ray Vaughan ripping off Albert King. This is stupid.

[add666]

slaveskinJACKET wrote:

Where he comes from, the land down under, do they call it a flaut? It's referred to more than once as a flaut, and then later as a flute.

Its not referred to as a flaut, the correct word for a flute player is flautist, not 'flutist'.

[travislausch]

I guess I'm gonna have to stop playing in E minor, or incur the wrath of several 80s thrash metal bands.

[slaveskinJACKET]

add666 wrote:

slaveskinJACKET wrote:

Where he comes from, the land down under, do they call it a flaut? It's referred to more than once as a flaut, and then later as a flute.

Its not referred to as a flaut, the correct word for a flute player is flautist, not 'flutist'.

Well, I'll be damned.
I guess you learn something every day.


Once again... Fuck those greedy publicists and their greedy lawyer. Why don't they write something as successful as 'Down Under' if they want money like it's made. Poor flautist.