To my mind Colin Hay is somewhat an Australian national treasure. Especially for our international readers, if you have not listened to Overkill, do so. The stresses of a modern life, of sustaining income, curtailing expenses, of performing for others, of people that are gone from your life, those that are in your life now, what the future may hold, whether or not your will be successful, whether your life has any meaning and so much more are all laced feelings and emotions inside this one song. To me Overkill is about a form of depression and anxiety that nearly every man must face at some point of his life. I could not find the version that was left on my CD but I could find the rendition below which is near enough.ĭumbed down for meaning Overkill is probably said to be about a man who can't get to sleep and whose mind is going at a thousand miles an hour. One such song that came on my car stereo, left on a mix tape that was a a parting gift from a woman I had had a moonlight tryst with many years ago, was an acoustic version of Colin Hay's 'Overkill'. If women often clutch to hot water bottles, then the male equivalent must surely be songs by proper men, the gritty and emotive songs from men like Colin Hay, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Tim Finn, Leonard Cohen and Mark Knopfler.Īround about now as the weather gets cooler, drive time music often switches out from the fun and funky summer melodies to the more soul soothing songs which send pings to a deeper core in us. It wasn’t just another weird Men at Work hit it was a bittersweet ballad exposing our own anxieties and vulnerabilities.Ĭolin Hay has proven that he is no flash in the pan he has released several solo albums, and his song “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” was the highlight of the soundtrack to Braff’s movie, “Garden State.” And Hay’s solo acoustic cover of his own hit is now the most-played song on my iPod.There are some songs that I hope to have close at hand until the day I die. hid from his attending physician and, at one point, serenading him as a corpse in the morgue.īut as the cast struggled with their problems throughout the day, the words, “I can’t get to sleep, I think about the implications of diving in too deep” suddenly made sense. Mind you, it was still quirky – Hay posed as a patient throughout, standing in a closet with J.D. The song immediately took on new meaning – Hay’s stripped-down version lent some newfound sadness and frustration to the otherwise dated hit. and company tried to deal with each other during a particularly stressful day. Suddenly, there was Colin Hay in the background, a bit fatter and balder, playing a troubadour with an acoustic guitar singing “Overkill.” Hay followed J.D. I was watching an episode in 2002 in which Braff’s character, J.D., and his friend Turk were grabbing lattes from a coffee stand before heading to work at the hospital – one day after a heated argument among the employees. ‘Overkill’ on ‘Scrubs’Įnter Zach Braff and his hit show “Scrubs.” I heard it maybe twice over the next 19 years. I remember thinking at the time that “Overkill” was a catchy, upbeat number, and its neurotic message was similar to its paranoid predecessor, “Who Can it Be Now?” But it seemed a bit too lightweight and quirky, and, like the group itself, the song retreated to the deep recesses of my brain. Cargo debuted in 1983, and although it spawned two Top 10 hits, “Overkill” and “It’s a Mistake,” it failed to capture the Zeitgeist as its predecessor, and Men at Work quietly yielded the stage to Duran Duran and Culture Club. Men at Work were the quintessential band of the 80s they burst on the scene with 1982’s Business as Usual, riding on the strength of the major hits “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under.” Soon everyone knew what vegemite was.īut no longer could musical artists rest on their laurels with a new band popping up every minute, Colin Hay and company were pressed to record and release another album.
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