PianoChords.studio

Down Under by Men at Work

Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 21 steps · 4 unique chords · 1980s

Community chart. These chords come from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums, not from a transcription checked against the recording. Charts are sometimes written in a different key or simplified, and no second chart of this song agreed closely enough to mark this page verified. Trust your ears.
Intro (×2)Step 1 of 21

C

LeftC2, G2RightC4, E4, G4
C2G2C4E4G4
Left hand Right hand Middle C (C4)

No source cited for this step

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 4

Form: Intro → A Section → B Section → B Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

  • C – G – Am – F – G (×2)
    bIII – bVII – i – bVI – bVII

A Section

  • Am – G – Am – F – G (×4)
    i – bVII – i – bVI – bVII

B Section 1

  • C – G – Am – F – G (×4)
    bIII – bVII – i – bVI – bVII

B Section 2

  • C – G – Am – F – G (×4)
    bIII – bVII – i – bVI – bVII
  • Am
    i

Chord vocabulary

ChordRoman numeralRoleHeard in
CbIIIIn the keyIntro, B Section
GbVIIIn the keyIntro, A Section, B Section
AmiHome chord (tonic)Intro, A Section, B Section
FbVIIn the keyIntro, A Section, B Section

Sources & accuracy

  • Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Down Under (Beloff arr.)” (credited “Colin Hay, Ron Strykert”, style Reggae) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
  • Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
  • Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
  • About the song: Wikipedia.
  • Not verified: other charts of this song differ in places from this one, so this page isn't marked verified.
  • Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.

Sources & Accuracy

Every chord on this page comes from the community chart listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.

  • Chords from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums (archived in the ChoCo research dataset); may be in a different key from the recording, and not checked against it.

    Community chord chart “Down Under (Beloff arr.)” (credited “Colin Hay, Ron Strykert”, style Reggae) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.

All Piano Voicings

#SectionChordLeft handRight handSources
1Intro (×2)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
2Intro (×2)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
3Intro (×2)AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—
4Intro (×2)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
5Intro (×2)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
6A Section (×4)AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—
7A Section (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
8A Section (×4)AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—
9A Section (×4)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
10A Section (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
11B Section 1 (×4)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
12B Section 1 (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
13B Section 1 (×4)AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—
14B Section 1 (×4)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
15B Section 1 (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
16B Section 2, part 1 (×4)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
17B Section 2, part 1 (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
18B Section 2, part 1 (×4)AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—
19B Section 2, part 1 (×4)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
20B Section 2, part 1 (×4)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
21B Section 2, part 2AmA2, E3C4, E4, A4—