For My Sunday Song #114, we will discuss the song “Who Can’t It Be Now” by Men at Work.  The song was off the Australian band’s debut album ‘Business as Usual’ and went all the way to #1 in the US Billboard chart thanks in large part to MTV.  MTV didn’t have a ton of videos around 1982 and this would was in constant rotation as a result.

The song is so recognizable when the first note of the Greg Ham’s saxophone kicks in.  The sax is the better than a guitar riff in this case.  Originally the saxophones was only played in the middle of the song, but the record producer felt it was such a great hook that it should be the main musical focus of the song.  And I would say he was correct.

The song was written by singer Colin Hay and was about a place he lived in St. Kilda, Victoria.  The apartment complex at the time was in a shady part of town and all these scary figures would be around.  Someone was selling drugs on his floor and would mistakenly knock on his door and that might have frightened him a little based on the lyrics in this song.

The video depicts the story of the song perfectly.  Colin looked all scared and had those crazy looking eyes when people would come knocking on the door.  The quirkiness of him and the band as a whole was part of their charm.  I remember falling in love with this song back in ’82 while watching MTV continuously and it made me a fan of Men at Work and Colin’s solo stuff as well (much later down the road).

If you haven’t heard it recently or seen the video in awhile, give it a listen and bring back those 80’s memories as this is a definitive 80’s new wave song.  I hope you enjoy and have a Happy Sunday!!

“Who Can It Be Now?”