Intro
I was looking for a song that had meaning and that I could connect to. When I asked my parents for suggestions they recommended the song Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil. At first I didn’t remember the song at all, but then once I heard it I instantly remembered it. I also remembered that it was about the Aboriginal people of Australia. I connected this to one of my family's all time favorite movies The Castle. In The Castle, a family is about to lose their home because of a nearby airport expansion. The family uses the land rights movement of the Aboriginal Australians to keep their house. Once I had remembered all of this, I instantly knew that I had to do my project on this song.
Artist background
Midnight Oil is an Australian band that was popular in the late 80’s to the early 90’s. The band members include: Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie, Martin Rotsey, Bones Hillman. Past band members include: Andrew James and Peter Gifford.
Peter Garrett, the lead singer, is an environmentalist, activist, and former politician. From 2004-2013 Garrett was a member of the Australian Parliament. Also, from 2007 -2010 he was the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Finally, from 2010 -2013 he was the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth.
Garrett, along with the rest of the band, made music that focused on the Aboriginal Rights Movement as well as the environment and military. One of the most notable times that their hit song “Beds are Burning” was played was at the 2000’s Olympics. The band was dressed in outfits with the word "sorry" written on them. This was a reference to the fact that the prime minister, at the time, John Howard, had refused to apologize to the Aboriginal people for what the Australia government had done to them.
Song introduction
Released in August of 1987, the song Beds are Burning (from the album Diesel and Dust) was an immediate hit. With the memorable chorus and meaningful lyrics, it gained so much popularity that it earned a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll." It was written by three of the five band members at the time, Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie, and Peter Garrett. It was produced by the British music producer Warne Livesey.
Lyrics:
Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty-five degrees
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent now, to pay our share
Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore, east to Yuendemu
The Western Desert lives and breathes
In forty-five degrees
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent now, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, we're gonna give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
Song analysis
“The bloodwood and the desert oak / Holden wrecks and boiling diesel / Steam in forty-five degrees” The first line of the song sets the scene so that we know the song is about Australia. It names two types of trees commonly found in Australia (Bloodwood and Desert Oak). The next line “Steam in forty-five degrees” is in Celsius, which is 113° Fahrenheit. “Four wheels scare the cockatoos" refers to a car scaring away the cockatoos ( a native bird to Australia). It can also be looked at through the lens of the Aboriginal Australians. It may refer to the white people who brought their modern technology to Australia and pushed out the natives’ culture. “From Kintore, east to Yuendemu” is a lyric that refers to places where Aboriginal people live and thrive in their own culture. “The Western Desert lives and breathes” is an area in Australia where many Aboriginal tribes live.
The chorus “How can we dance when our earth is turning? How do we sleep while our beds are burning?” is a commentary on how people seemed not to notice or even care that this was and is still happening to the native people. “It belongs to them, let's give it back” is directly talking about the Aboriginal peoples' land. This might be the most controversial and powerful line of the entire song. When the Europeans came to Australia they took all of the Aboriginal land, leaving the natives with almost nothing. Starting in the 1930’s the Aboriginal people started being more vocal about how horrible they were being treated. This continued for a long time until the 1960s and 70s when the Australian government started to give the native people their land back. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 was the first legislation in Australia that allowed the native people to take back their land. This was the first step of the government giving back the land. More then a decade later, Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning reminds listeners that their is more work to do. The band members are demanding that people stop ignoring this issue, and that the government go further in giving land back to the indigenous Australians.
Conclusion
I am glad that I learned more about the song and how meaningful it is. It’s amazing to know that a song could be both popular and full of ideas about social justice and change. The fact that this came up more than 30 years ago and that we are still facing these questions around the world today is very powerful to me.
Sources
“Aboriginal Land Rights Act.” National Museum of Australia, 17 June 2020, www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/aboriginal-land-rights-act.
“About Peter.” Peter Garrett, web.archive.org/web/20130516005123/www.petergarrett.com.au/about/about/.
Haskell, Duncan. “How I Wrote 'Beds Are Burning' by Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst.” Songwriting Magazine, 4 Aug. 2020, www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/interviews/how-i-wrote-beds-are-burning-by-midnight-oils-rob-hirst.
Longman, Jere. “A FOND FAREWELL FROM AUSTRALIA.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Oct. 2000, www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/sports/sydney-2000-closing-ceremony-a-fond-farewell-from-australia.html.
“Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning.” Genius, 1 Aug. 1987, genius.com/Midnight-oil-beds-are-burning-lyrics.
The History of Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia (1800s ... www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach2/indigenous_res006_0712.pdf.
Wikipedia contributors. "Diesel and Dust." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 May. 2020. Web. 6 Oct. 2020.
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