Well tan our hides

Quick, tie that kangaroo down!

We don't go Down Under very often, so we weren't even aware there is an organization called the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). And that explains how we missed their 75th birthday bash in 2001 during which they named the Top 30 Australian songs of all time.

There's no argument over their top pick, the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind." But we can't mask our disappointment over the exclusion of Rolf Harris' "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport,"  which spent three weeks atop Billboard's U.S. Easy Listening chart in 1963 after being a huge hit worldwide.

Apparently the song, which Harris wrote in 1957, contained a slur to Aborigines.  We were blissfully unaware of that fact as we sang along as children to the silly lyrics about wallabies, platypus ducks and didgeridoos.  (We are delighted that Pat Boone's record company declined the singer's request to record the song.)

The APRA Top 10:

1. Friday on My Mind, Easybeats, 1966
2. Eagle Rock, Daddy Cool, 1971
3. Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil, 1987
4. Down Under, Men at Work, 1981
5. A Pub With No Beer, Slim Dusty, 1957
6. The Loved One, The Loved Ones, 1966
7. Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House, 1986
8. Khe Sanh, Cold Chisel, 1978
9. It's a Long Way to the Top, AC/DC, 1976
10. Quasimodo's Dream, The Reels, 1981