Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

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"Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" is a song written by Australian singer Rolf Harris in 1957 which became a hit around the world in the 1960s in two recordings (1960 in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom for the original, and 1963 in the United States with a re-recording of the song). Inspired by Harry Belafonte's calypsos, most noticeably "The Jack-Ass Song", it is about an Australian stockman on his deathbed. Harris originally offered four unknown Australian backing musicians 10% of the royalties for the song in 1960 (*Double bass played by Brian Bursey), but they decided to take a recording fee of £7 each then because they thought the song would be a flop. The distinctive sound of Harris's original recording was achieved by the use of an instrument of his own design called the "wobble board"—a two-by-three-foot piece of hardboard. The recording peaked at No. 1 in the Australian chart and was a top 10 hit in the UK in 1960. In 1963, Harris re-recorded the song in the UK with George...

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