What "To Who Can It Be Now" Actually Is
It's the title track from the 1981 debut album by Men at Work, written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert. The song reached number one in multiple countries and is one of the most instantly recognizable tracks from the Australian new wave era. If you're searching for something else by that name — a game, a podcast, a puzzle series — I need to be honest: I'm not certain. The track runs about two minutes and forty seconds. It opens with a guitar riff that borrows loosely from the chord structure of "Strange Fruit," though the band has always maintained the riff was independently written. The famous copyright case centered on the flute part of "Down Under," not this song, but it did come up in legal discussions about the band's overall catalog. I remember buying the CD in 1997 when the remixes came out, and digging through the liner notes to figure out who played the bass line. Greg Ham handled most of the keyboards and flute, while John Rees was on bass. The vocal arrangement is stacked — Hay's voice doubles and triples across the chorus, which is why it sounds bigger than a three-piece band normally would.
Here's something most summaries leave out: the song is in B-flat major but shifts into D minor for the bridge, then back. That modal interchange is what gives it the paranoid, questioning feel. It's not just a catchy pop song — the key change does the heavy lifting emotionally. Without it, you've got a standard I-pop structure. With it, you've got something that sounds like it's closing in on you. Stream options are everywhere now. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music — all carry the original album version. If you want the remastered edition, look for the 1997 reissue; the dynamic range is noticeably better, though some purists argue it lost a bit of punch in the mastering. I prefer the original 1981 mix for live reference, but the remaster is fine for casual listening. One edge case that trips people up: the UK and Australian releases of the album have slightly different track orders. The US version also included "Who Can It Be Now?" as a single edit that runs about ten seconds shorter. If you're a collector or just want the full experience, check the catalog number — CBS 462387 2 is the standard worldwide CD reissue.
The song's influence shows up in a lot of places, though rarely directly credited. The stuttered vocal delivery in the chorus anticipates a lot of early-2000s indie pop production tricks. Bands like The Vines and Jet picked up on that energy without necessarily naming Men at Work as an influence, which is how these things usually work. If you're looking for sheet music, the easiest source is Real Book volume listings or Sheet Music Direct. The chord progression is straightforward enough that a player with intermediate guitar skills can pick it up in an afternoon. Tabs circulate freely online, but the published arrangements are more accurate for the bridge section where the key shift happens — amateur transcriptions often miss the D minor turn. There's a cover by the band Wolfmother that appears on a tribute compilation, and it's worth a listen if you want to hear how a hard rock arrangement reinterprets the material. It's not faithful to the original but it reveals something interesting about the underlying harmonic structure — the song holds up under heavier distortion in a way most power pop doesn't.
I don't have a download link to share. Streaming platforms and official music stores are the right places for that. Anything else is probably unauthorized.
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