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.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Who Can It Be Now?” by Men At Work” →
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