Beds Are Burning

"Beds Are Burning"
Australian seven-inch vinyl single
Single by Midnight Oil
from the album Diesel and Dust
B-side	"Gunbarrel Highway" "Bullroarer" (US only)
Released	1987
Recorded	1987
Length	4:18
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Rob Hirst Jim Moginie Peter Garrett
Producer(s)	Warne Livesey Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil singles chronology
"The Dead Heart" (1986) "Beds Are Burning" (1987) "Put Down That Weapon" (1987) Music sample "Beds Are Burning"

"Beds Are Burning" is a 1987 song by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their album Diesel and Dust. This song was the second from the album to be released as a single, and is among the band's best-known songs outside Australia.

It reached No. 1 in New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, No. 3 in the Netherlands, No. 5 in France, No. 6 in the United Kingdom and Australia, No. 11 in Ireland, and No. 17 in the United States and Sweden.

It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

It was named number 95 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s and number 97 by the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009.

In May 2001, Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs of all time, as decided by a 100 strong industry panel. "Beds Are Burning" was declared third behind the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock".^[1]

Meaning

"Beds Are Burning" is a protest song in support of giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert. These 'last contact' people began moving from the Gibson Desert to settlements and missions in the 1930s. More were forcibly moved during the 1950s and 1960s to the Papunya settlement. In 1981, they left to return to their own country and established the Kintore community, which is nestled in the picturesque Kintore Ranges, surrounded by Mulga and Spinifex country. It is a community with a population of about 400. Kintore and the town of Yuendumu are mentioned by name in the lyrics, as are vehicles produced by the Holden company.^[2]

Chart performance

Performances

Midnight Oil performed the song in front of a world audience of millions at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Prime Minister John Howard had triggered controversy that year with his refusal to embrace symbolic reconciliation and apologise to Indigenous Australians and members of the Stolen Generations. But he had also claimed that the reconciliation-themed "Beds Are Burning" was his favorite Midnight Oil song. The band played it dressed in black, with the word "Sorry" printed conspicuously all over their clothes, as a popular apology to indigenous people and to highlight the issue to Howard, who was in the audience as the ranking Olympic host.

Other appearances

• Live at the World Café: Handcrafted (2002, World Café)

Cover versions

• In 1992, German heavy metal group Sinner covered song "Beds Are Burning" on the album No More Alibis
• In 2001, Augie March covered "Beds Are Burning" on the tribute album The Power & The Passion.
• In 2004, German Eurodance group Novaspace covered the song.
• In 2006, Pearl Jam covered the song as a tag to their hit song "Daughter" during the Australian leg of their tour.
• In 2008, The Nightwatchman covered the song with Justin Sane and Chris Barker of Anti-Flag at the Sydney and Perth Big Day Out festival, and additionally Billy Bragg at the Adelaide Big Day Out festival in Australia. Gyroscope played the song during the breakdown of their song, "Fast Girl", on their "The Australia Tour" in August–October 2008. Former Concrete Blonde frontwoman Johnette Napolitano and Rachel Stamp guitarist Will Crewdson posted a version of the song on their mutual Myspace page^[28] in 2008. Their version is largely faithful to the original, the greatest differences being that in their version the chorus and bridge are less densely orchestrated than the verses, and some small changes to the lyrics (for example, Napolitano replaces the line "To say fair's fair" with "to pay our share". She then repeats the line in its original place as well).
• In 2009, The Red Paintings covered the song, rewriting it as "Whales are Dying" as a charity single for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a letter to Peter Garrett, who was then Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts.
• On 2 October 2009, 60 musicians and celebrities from around the world released a free reworked version to highlight climate change issues ahead of the United Nations' talks in Copenhagen. Singers included Lily Allen, Klaus Meine of the Scorpions, Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran, Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects, and Bob Geldof. The former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and French actress Marion Cotillard also added their voices to the cover version. The song is part of Global Humanitarian Forum TckTckTck Time for Climate justice campaign and is a part of the greater "TckTckTck" project,^[29] which aims to draw attention to the urgency of the global warming crisis, by signing a "musical petition" with each download.
• In 2014, English extreme metal band Devilment featuring Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani Filth covered the song on their debut album The Great and Secret Show. The cover features Bam Margera partially providing the vocals.

See also

• List of number-one singles of 1988 (Canada)
• List of number-one singles from the 1980s (New Zealand)

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics