Everything about Beds Are Burning totally explained
"
Beds Are Burning" is a
1987 hit single by Australian rock band
Midnight Oil, the first track from their album
Diesel and Dust. This song wasn't the first song from the album to be released as a single; the first to be released was "
The Dead Heart."
It reached #
1 in the
South African charts, #3 in the
Netherlands Top 40, #5 in the
France Top 50, #6 in the
UK charts, #11 in
Ireland, #17 in the
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and in
Sweden.
It is one of
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Meaning
The song is a plea for the
land rights of
Indigenous Australians:
"The time has come, to say fair's fair, to pay the rent, to pay our share." In 2000, the band performed the song at the closing ceremony of the
Olympic Games in Sydney but under the title "The Time Has Come". The performance was notable due to the band wearing tracksuits emblazoned with the words "
SORRY".
In 2006 the Australian
Treasurer Peter Costello used the lyrics of this song in the
Australian Parliament to make a point about public leasing of buildings by the opposition
Australian Labor Party. This was designed to clearly make fun of
Midnight Oil member turned Labor
MP Peter Garrett and included a spoof of his trademark dancing style.
Cover versions
In 2004, the German
Eurodance group
Novaspace covered this song. In 2006,
Pearl Jam covered the song as a tag to their hit song "Daughter" during the Australian leg of their tour, in the same year a french band called "Black Bomb A" released their version of it in the album "One Sound Bite to React". In 2008,
The Nightwatchman covered the song with
Justin Sane and
Chris #2 of
Anti-Flag at the Sydney & Perth
Big Day Out festival, and additionally
Billy Bragg at the Adelaide
Big Day Out festival in Australia. Also, Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde recently covered the song.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Beds Are Burning'.
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