When we checked the traffic of uke4u.com we realized, that we have some Aussies visiting this site. So we decided to do a song from a land down under " where women glow and men plunder ". So here's a real pop classic from the early eighties. Men At Work were an Australian band founded in 1979. They adopted their band name  from a construction zone sign near an early venue.The original version of " Down Under " was the b-side of their debut single " Keypunch Operator ". A re-worked version of the song, uptempo and with a flute solo, appeared on their debut album " Business as Usual " in 1981. The band split up in 1986. There was a reunion in 1996 by Colin Hay ( voc, guit ) and Greg Ham ( keys, flute ) which lasted until 2002. In February 2010 a  judge ruled that "Down Under" did contain a flute riff based on the nursery song  " Kookaburra sits in the old Gum Tree " but stipulated that neither was it necessarily the hook nor a substantial part of the hit song  In July 2010 a judge ruled that Larrikin Music Publishing should be paid 5% of past (since 2002) and future profits. Hay and Ham periodically reunited Men at Work with guest musicians, including an appearance in February 2009. On 19 April 2012 Greg Ham was found dead at his home "in what police said were unsuspicious circumstances". Here's the original video: This is our ukulele playalong video:

Click Here For The Down Under Ukulele Chords & Lyrics On 2 Sheets ( PDF Download )

1. Beat

It's a 4/4-beat with a tempo of 104 bpm.

2. Down under ukulele chords

The song is in the key of  Bm. The Bm cord is easier to grip if you make a full barre  ( not only over the first three strings ) as shown in the video.

3. Strumming Patterns

This is a vivid song with a Reggae touch. I made two strumming patterns. For the verse it's an offbeat rhythm, the chorus is more like a classic Pop/Rock strumming. Both strumming patterns are two bars long.

3.1. Verse

To get a Reggae feeling into the strumming, you have to start with a mutet downstrum. Mut the strings with your left hand by loosening the grip. Just keep the fingers over the frets without pushing the strings down. So you get a percussive tone. X = muted downstrum D = downstroke U = upstroke  

1		2		3		4
X	D	X	D	X	D	X	D

   

1		2		3		4
X	D	X	D	D	D	D	D

 

3.2. Chorus

 

1		2		3		4
D	D	D	D U	D	D	D	D U

   

1		2		3		4
D	D	D	DU	D	D	D	D

    In the song he got a vegemite sandwich. Before you try this  delicacy, take a look how children react to it:   Cheers FriendlyFred