"Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" is a song written by Rolf Harris in 1957 which became a hit across the world in the 1960s. Inspired by Harry Belafonte's calypsos, it is about an Australian stockman on his deathbed. The song is one of the best known and most successful Australian songs.

Harris offered four unknown backing musicians 10 percent of the royalties for the song, but they decided to take a recording fee of 28 pounds between them because they thought the song would be a flop.

This recording of the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States in 1963; the song also spent three weeks atop the adult contemporary chart. Harris re-recorded it along with The Wiggles in 2005. It is still popular today as a children's song.

The distinctive sound of Harris's original recording was achieved by the use of an instrument of his own design called the "wobble board", actually a two by three foot piece of Masonite.

The lyrics of the song have also been compared to a poem by Australian poet Richard H. Kendall whose work includes a poem called "On Preston Bar" which features a pet wallaby called "Tymie". In the poem Tymie seeks to escape from his master, Mr Roberts.

The story of the song

The Stockman instructs his friend to take care of his affairs. The first of these is to watch his wallabies feed, then to tie his kangaroo down, since they jump around. "Sport" is an Australian term of address, alluding to "good sport", which often, as in this case, proactively praises someone for carrying out a small favour you are asking of them. His last wish is to "Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred".

Controversial lyrics

The fourth verse was removed circa 1960, because of its use of the word Abo, a now offensive slang term for Aboriginal Australians, and because of its implied racist context. The lyrics of this verse (not found on Rolf Harris' official website) are as follows:

Let me Abos go loose, Bruce
Let me Abos go loose
They're of no further use, Bruce
So let me Abos go loose.

The verse appears to make light of Aboriginal servitude and captivity in that the stockman emancipated his captives only at his death, when they were "of no further use" to him (compare George Washington's of his slaves by will rather than during his lifetime). In addition, because the rest of the song refers to animals in captivity, some listeners might infer a comparison of Indigenous Australians to animals or their characterization as subhuman. The offending verse did not feature in later versions of the song. In 2006 Harris expressed his regret about the original lyrics.

Cultural influences

• It was used in the debut episode of The Goodies television show; when Graeme flicks the window to show Sydney Harbour Bridge, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" is the accompanying music. The trio are visibly averse to the song, with Bill crying "Turn it off!"
• Nicole Kidman sings the song while playing with Philip the "Hyper Hypo" (as played by Mike Myers) in a popular Saturday Night Live sketch.
• As a gimmick, certain radio stations in the U.S. have played "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" non-stop for an extended period of time, often in anticipation of a change in the station's format. Examples of this include: KRVI (Fargo, North Dakota, 2007); KXLP (Mankato, Minnesota, 2007); and a country music station in Columbus, Indiana, in 2000.

References

External links

Full lyrics available at

• Song lyrics

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