\u201cLet me say that I most strenuously disapprove of any unauthorised, unlicensed use of \u2018Down Under\u2019, for any \u2018March for Australia\u2019 events,\u201d Hay wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Down Under\u2019, a song I co-wrote, does not belong to those who attempt to sow xenophobia within the fabric of our great land, our great people.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Down Under\u2019 is ultimately a song of celebration. It\u2019s for pluralism and inclusion; unity, not division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hay ended his strong message by telling the protesters to \u201c[g]o write your own song, leave mine alone,\u201d signing off with his name followed by \u201cimmigrant\u201d in brackets.<\/p>\n
The song, which was co-written by Hay and bandmate Ron Strykert, was a global phenomenon in the \u201980s, topping charts in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, and more countries.<\/p>\n
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It has since become an unofficial national anthem for Australians, and is still regularly played at sporting events around the country.<\/p>\n
Hay returned to Australia late last year for a run of solo shows, armed with a catalogue of songs spanning more than four decades.<\/p>\n
Recent years have seen Hay\u2019s artistry celebrated with APRA\u2019s esteemed Billions Award, marking 1 billion streams of \u201cDown Under\u201d, which experienced a renaissance in 2022 with Luude\u2019s chart-topping drum and bass remix. His contributions to Australian music were further recognised with the prestigious Ted Albert Award, and he recently received a Spotify 1 Billion Streams Plaque for \u201cDown Under\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hay recently released Man @ Work Volume 2, described as a thoughtfully curated collection of past and present music, featuring reimagined tracks, stripped-back versions, and genre-bending collaborations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDown Under\u201d is one of the most instantly recognisable Australian songs ever, but the songwriter behind the anthem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,53338,143121,225572,44],"class_list":["post-430841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-colin-hay","tag-down-under","tag-men-at-work","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}