For those of us who followed the rock scene in the 80’s, Midnight Oil’s release of “Beds Are Burning” was a big deal. It spoke to a youthful inclination toward drama, big life questions, and questioning authority, all with a great beat and catchy chorus! Now that I’m older, I still love it! But back in the 80’s very few of us knew what it was really about.
Midnight Oil was a popular Australian band known for its social activism and conscious of Australia’s history of colonialism and displacement of many Aboriginal tribes. This included the Arangu people who, in 1920, were forcibly moved from their ancestral home of Uluru, which included the iconic rock feature of Kata Tjuta (“Ayers Rock”), a site considered sacred to the Arangu and one of Australia’s most recognizable landmarks. In 1958, Uluru was declared a national park, managed by the government. The Arangu people, who had lived on this land for thousands of years were discouraged from even visiting the park. In 1985, after almost 30 years of advocacy, the Australian government officially handed Uluru back to the Arangu people.
Midnight Oil was asked by the Aboriginal community to write a song commemorating this event and for other such “landback” actions to continue. The band had an international audience and the indigenous communities hoped that a pop song on the issue of unceded territory would spread the message globally. They were correct: “Beds Are Burning” landed first in the song charts in New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, and placed high in countries around the world in 1987-88. It also highlighted this issue for many Indigenous around the world who face similar situations.
Lyrics:
Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam at forty-five degrees (113 degrees Farhenheit)
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?
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