Midnight Oil, known also as "The Oils" to fans, is an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer drum kit Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player keyboard instrument /lead guitarist Jim Moginie. While vocalist vocals Peter Garrett was studying at Australian National University in Canberra, and by 1975 the band was touring the east coast.
Important to their development was... [read more] - Concrete
In the city the heart still whispersFlaking metal a silent witnessThere's chemical fields and cathode cloudsThe milky way is emasculated as exhaust fansAnd smart cards shrink wrap the coloured airAnd send it coughing...
- Drop In The Ocean
Here comes the olive branch manHe'll press it any way he canHe tries so hard to understandHere comes the tired statesmanHeavy lidded bearded nowhere left to landHe makes the jigsaw fitWith a hammer in his handIt's...
- Seeing Is Believing
I was asleep with both eyes openDream freeze sprinklers in the sunBeer soaked mansions block the sky,Dingos howl and white flags flyThe future's put on hold and you're still youngBut I know seeing is believingI can't...
- Blot
Welcome stranger listen inThe presumption of innocence was buried againCarve up-selloffTriumphalism gotta be a curse or even worseIt's inherited it's recurring, oh GodI have walked I have swum I've hitchhiked andI've...
- Safety Chain Blues
Hanging on like hell to the safety chainLifebuoy crash lands in a vale of tearsAll the lovers are in retreatOut on the edge of the nervous streetSo deaf to the call of the wildDeaf to the first born's whispering...
- Cemetery In My Mind
Locked in the mall in a state of frightLooking for salvation in a car headlightBut you can't have what you can't buyTomorrow is better than yesterday,Tomorrow is better than today,Tomorrow is better than yesterday...
- Comfortable Place On The Couch
Comfortable suburban homeToo afraid to go out on your ownComfortable place on the couchNatures a stranger keep it out Haul awaySo you got coastline for fenceIt could be your first line of defenceYou'll never be ready...
- The Great Gibber Plain
From the great gibber plainTo the Indian oceanFrom the stones at my feetTo my sawn off emotionsAlready goneWe've already beenWe're free freeTo secedeFrom Gallipoli's cliffsTo the banks of the ThamesFor those that are...
- Redneck Wonderland
I don't want to run I don't want to stayCos everything that's near and dear is old and in the wayEmergency has gone, apathy rolling onTime to take a stand Redneck wonderlandGot you in my sights, spotlit by the fenceIf...
- Return To Sender
Well I want to return to my senderWell I want to returnThere is so much that I can't rememberBut there's so much to chooseWe are laying the tracks for the companyAcross all space and all timeAny insinkerator will...
- What Goes On (in Album Redneck Wonderland)
One things for sure that it's still the sameThat young folk die from some noble aimAnd they live so fast and they die so youngAnd we just keep wondering what the hell went wrongCos they live so fast but they die so...
- King Of The Mountain
Walking through the high dry grass, pushing my way through slowYellow belly black snake, sleeping on a red rockWaiting for the stranger to goSugar train stops at the crossing, cane cockies cursing belowBad storm...
- What Goes On
One thing's for sureThat it's still the sameThat young folk dieFor some noble aimAnd they live so fastBut they die so youngAnd we just keep wonderingWhat the hell went wrongYeah, they live so fastBut they die so...
- Dreamworld
The Breakfast Creek Hotel is up for saleThe last square mile of terra firma gavelled in the mailSo farewell to the Norfolk Island pinesNo amount of make believe can help this heart of mineEnd - your dreamworld is just...
- Best Of Both Worlds
You say times are toughWe've got the best of both worlds hereThings are roughWe've got the best of both worlds hereTimes are toughWe've got the best of both worldsThe real world is not as calm as it appears to be from...
- Kosciuszko
Older than KosciuszkoDarwin down to Alice SpringsDealers in the clearinghouseThe settlements explodeHigh up in the homelandsMiners drive across the landEncounter no resistanceWhen the people block the roadOlder than...
- Blue Sky Mine
Hey, hey-hey heyThere'll be food on the table tonightHey, hey, hey heyThere'll be pay in your pocket tonightMy gut is wrenched out it is crunched up and brokenA life that is led is no more than a tokenWho'll strike...
- Forgotten Years
Few of the sins of the father, are visited upon the sonHearts have been hard, our hands have been clenched in a fist too longOur sons will never be soldiers, our daughters will never need gunsThese are the yrs...
- Truganini
There's a road train going nowhereRoads are cut, lines are downWe'll be staying at the Roma BarTill that monsoon passes onThe backbone of this country's brokenThe land is cracked and the land is soreFarmers are...
- White Skin Black Heart
Yeah, whatcha gonna do now, now that you started?Whatcha gonna do now, now that it's done?The words got out there, they float around and are coming right back down.You gonna leave us lying hereDealing with the...
- Back On The Borderline
From the bar to the bedroom I'm swimming in the neonLighted pictures of a redhead, plasticoated hot onAnd sometimes when that mirror showsThe smile of disbeliefStained signature of nightmaresThey're stolen by the...
- Don't Wanna Be The One
I'm an innocent victim, I'm just like youWe end up in home units with a brick wall viewI can't believe the perfect families on my colour TVIf I don't make it to the top it'll never bother meAnd I don't wanna be the...
- Surfs Up Tonight
Wherever the wind blowsWhen it blows over the seaThe moon's sitting highWaves will rise Water shapesWaves will take you, take you thereSurf's up tonight Summers on holdIt will go running awayYou've gotta move nowGet...
- The Dead Heart
We don't serve your countryDon't serve your kingKnow your custom don't speak your tongueWhite man came took everyoneWe don't serve your countryDon't serve your kingWhite man listen to the songs we singWhite man came...
- Hercules
My life is a valuable thingI wan't to keep it that way, I won't cryMy life's such a valuable thingSome things don't fade away, I don't mindWe give the best we can giveWe won't forget, we can't forgiveKeep us...
- One Country
Who'd like to change the world, who wants to shoot the curlWho gets to work for bread, who wants to get aheadWho hands out equal rights, who starts and ends that fightAnd not not rant and rave, or end up a slaveWho...
- Surfing With A Spoon
Well you knew from the startThat a one way loving wouldn't lastYou think I'm moving slowly girli tell you, you're moving way too fastWorking in the city from 9 to 5Traffic on the highway gonna blow my mindSurfing with...
- Run By Night
I'm on the whiskey flying, and I'll run by nightI'm on the whiskey running, and I'll run by nightI'm on the winter cycle, shut my eyes to the biteI'm on the winter cycle, shake my fist at the biteI'm on the whiskey...
- Head Over Heels
I'm head over heelsYou know how it feels to be in loveI'm head over heelsHolding back the chills in loveI think I like the sound we're chasingI'm giving it all and you're reciprocatingI'm head over heelsTurning back...
- Used And Abused
I was taken downtown for my part in the demonstrationI was used and abused with the light in my eye at the stationI saidNo no You got the wrong manNo no Don't pick on me againNo no I'm going home to myFamily and...
- Powderworks
There's a shit storm a'comingI feel it coming soonThere's a time and a placeAnd a moment in spaceWhen the fat boys call the tuneThere's a bubble a bouncingAnd it's bouncing my wayThere's two sticks in the powderworksI...
- Nothing Lost - Nothing Gained
In my world there are sorrowsI'd rather drown in happinessCome the morning, when the darkness throughThat story's bound to changeAnd in my worldAnd in my worldIt's all the sameAnd nothing's ventured, nothing's...
- Dust
It's 2am in Town Hall StationBlack walls and sleeping drunksAre bad companionsIce is thereFear is thereEveryone is nowhere there's too much of nothingTake me awayIt' 9am in Town Hall StationFlashing faces and grey...
- Basement Flat
- Armistice Day
You're watching people fighting, you're watching people losingOn Armistice DayThe watchers do the wincing, reporters so convincingBut the TV never liesI went looking for a war, but the only guns I sawNever used in...
- Burnie
Brought up in a world of changesPart time cleaner in a holiday flatStare out to sea at the ships at nightNo anaesthesia, I'm gonna work on it day to dayNo zephyr no light relief it seemsBut maybe it's a dreamI'm lying...
- Someone Else To Blame
Tell for yourself, watch me sweat, watch me crawlStretch me on the table, up against the wallYou can see for yourself, but you better not sayYou're working four more hours every other daySee me suffer see me painMust...
- Lucky Country
Speed, and thisThere's a feeling I get when I look to the sunLove, it's so toughCause it raises your hopes and then it makes you runWe're all looking for a shorter dayWe're all looking for an easy wayEven when the...
- Brave Faces
I've seen faces in the windowI've seen faces in the streetThey walk and talk of nothingI've known many restless summersThe sand dunes I imagineA place without a postcardFlower people were so beautifulBut straight and...
- Quinella Holiday
The bar was crowded in the arvo dinAnd the voices got higher and higherFor the man at the back with the tickets in his hatHe would have to do more than aspire toA place with some light on the sand near a beachA place...
- Written In The Heart
The God forsaken rifleman stands rigid at the barThe kids discover victims in the rubble and the tarThey're married to ambition to the slogans of the warSlogans that used to be scrawled on the wallAre written in the...
- If Ned Kelly Was King
Hollow threats and a great adventureSo much business, towns in the dirtCompany cars and efficient AmericansThree black boys sit in the cornerWhite woman waiting to talkLots of intention but no understandingIf Ned...
- Loves On Sale
Haul me up I'm waitingOh yeah yes I'm waitingWaiting now they say for shopping dayI'll pretend that I'm a rich manAnd I'll carry it awayOh yeah it sounds real niceIf you got money, then it's a stealGive me a dollar,...
- Minutes To Midnight
Everybody say god is a good manAh, clock on the worldDriving a dump truck up to the sunA sigh in the human heartI look at the clock on the wallIt says three minutes to midnightFaith is blind when we're so nearPhar Lap...
- Sleep
So you've got the bluesThe evening wore out your shoesTo a shuffling beatIt's a colourful crowdSpraycan informationCover the lonely stationCheckpoint for the state of the nationOn the missionbeat beatThe radio...
- Bells And Horns In The Back Of Beyond
The Southern Aurora was late againAs I waited at central to take you homeWinking spinning sparkling lights on our flat earthYou talk about the old groundling waysWhere the suburbs summer pulse and play in wrinkled...
- Bakerman
Instrumental
- Harrisburg
The empire ringsThe umpire's not laughingThe President's resented,The Ambassador's a night clubYou cannot get it outIt's stuff you cannot taste or seeIt's stuff you cannot smellIt's stuff that's twenty times as hotAs...
- When The Generals Talk
Up there on the platformHe is speaking to the peopleThe people are respondingWith clapping and a'cheeringBut the meaning of the messageNot revealed to those assembledThey're taken for a rideTaken In his strideWhen the...
- Kosciusko
Older than kosciuskoDarwin down to alice springsDealers in the clearinghouseThe settlements explodeHigh up in the homelandsMiners drive across the landEncounter no resistanceWhen the people block the roadOld than...
- Helps Me Helps You
Look at all the toys I gotLook at all the things I needLook at all the toys I gotLook at all the mouths I feedHave I got a wonderful deal for youWhat belongs to me belongs to youI understand what you're going throughI...
- Jimmy Sharman's Boxers
From the red dust north of Dalmore DownsSharman's tents roll into townTwelve will face the auctioneerSharman's Boxers stand their groundTheir days are darker than your nightsBut they won't be the first to fallChildren...
- Shipyards Of New Zealand
Thought one day I'd make my fortuneLike the ancient cavalcadesFrom the shipyards of New ZealandChasing history I left homeMoving west into the sunsetBecame the sunset of our livesI was factory made and settledSafe...
- Who Can Stand In The Way
Well oh well I feel I'm in decayJohn Laws is on the air againIt's heavy traffic, jacarandas, eye in the sky and foot on groundI see a million sand speck'd ants in mortal combat hand to handAnd I feel that IYes I feel...
- One Too Many Times
She was the golden summer wineAnd now she's black and blue resignedHe took advantage like the spider, helplessOne too many timesYou had to go ahead and singYou had to steal that diamond ringUpon the headstone so...
- Underwater
Scanning at the blue bended headlandsWhite flurry scudded, a dark silhouette flashes by, in the wetIt is glistening fleshIn the deep marine, in the deep marineThere is room for make believe out in the oceanThere is...
- E-Beat
There is a place we're coming toIt is not green it is not blueI hope that you understandThe devil was a dancing on the old foreshoreHitting up on bright lights and the liquor storesSave me, please save meWe got to...
- Common Ground
These are not dispassionate words of the coolThe headline still rules the editor's a foolShall we douse out the flames or will everybody fuseAnd leave us stranded here tomorrowI heard a calling out, a cry from the...
- Sins Of Omission
On the fringes of torso and lipsStraining to hear the voice of gospel choirPummelled plains and beaten fieldsWe're never broken in spirit withinBut I feel like we're coming aroundYes, I feel like we're coming...
- Barest Degree
I am gone, can't waste more timeI said, not quite jokingThe fire has gone the big trees standThe underground is smokingRemember nothing you've been toldMeans anything to meAnd everything you hold is mineIn the barest...
- Home
There is a place I was bornIt is a place I've never seenDon't even know where it isDon't even know my nameWhere is home, where is my home?I'm searching far and wideIt's a bastard songIt is the feeling that...
- Time To Heal
In the cities and the townsThe word is coming downNo more doubt, no more painThere's been a dragging of the chainNow there's a price we gotta payNo way out, no way roundWhere is the town that we lived in,...
- Star Of Hope
Hope you're a God, your turn to prayHope you've a God, it's your turn to prayLight on the hill so far awayThe light on the hill is so far awayBoy, where are you nowWith skin so brown, get out of townStar of Hope, star...
- Bring On The Change
Here comes the angel of deathYou may not remember her yetConcrete all over her faceChild bride of the human raceUntil you see life in the forestUntil you hear you've been abolishedForget everything that you think...
- Cold Cold Change
Cold cold change, we were so excitedBut you came and went so soonCold cold change, we were not invitedWe smiled all the while we were taken inCold cold change, bringing in the winterFreezing up the water, closing up...
- Section 5 (Bus To Bondi)
Push start that car tomorrowI'll take it to the tip yardWell I'll leave it as a metal wreckFor cats to sleepThen I'll catch the bus to BondiSwim the beach and wonderWho can wear the fashion whenThe place is oh so...
- Is It Now?
There's a man who walks the lonely field at midnightHe wears a matching suit, steel tipped shoes and the diamondsAnd he holds the dying flame, the loaded dice and the answerHe stalks the open road that leads form here...
- Stand In Line
Oh get down, getting down, so much money in the groundFor the people who don't deserve it nowIt's a circus we're the clowns as the giant ones disownEvery bit of something we call homeSaid it's a pity 'bout the middle...
- No Reaction
What do we want, we are going to be the winners or the losers?And who do we hear, do we listen to the beggars or the choosers?We're getting no reactionWe haven't heard a wordYou're almost (but not quite)More than we...
- Profiteers
Look up on the ledge, there's a bomber diving on the golden streetDown below the crowd is falling, bullets under feetDon't tell me, don't tell me, hey don't tell meWe're under the beat of a brand-new marching...
- Koala Sprint
And out from the echoes of the nightConcrete caverns catch the sky and hold the stars to ransomA thousand dreams it's getting lateThousand runners standing stillI can smell the sand and sea againI've had enough...
- *** Flame
"This is a mad house," she goes straight for the palm"You'll be luck to make it till Tuesday"I say "You must be joking, the idea's absurd"But the picture's hanging on her every wordBut she comes right back, her black...
- Antartica
I'm a snow plough, I must now plow on, I'm a snow plough, I'm a settlers sonI'm a storm cloud, rain myself all over the placeI'm a storm cloud, gonna wipe that smile right off your faceThere must be one place left in...
- Stars Of Warburton
I, I was, I was shaken down in a toy townHe, He's out thereYou know it's Kennedy's shadow from White Cross to MichiganATM's, are in the air, oh yeah machines they are spinning out everywhereThe speaker is speakingCan...
- Bedlam Bridge
In this city with no footpath there's a building with no peopleThere is crime and gun decisionsThere's a street of heat and hawkers, there's a house of hope driftersThere's a gang that shoots then listensThere's a...
- Shakers And Movers
Won't you come on down the line, away from barren groundThe harlot and the autocrat, are they driving you further downThe season's rhymes, they anchor me, against the raging tideTake you to the last wild place, skin...
- River Runs Red
So you cut all the tall trees down, you poisoned the sky and the seaYou've taken what's good from the groundBut you've left precious little for meYou remember the flood and the fall, we remember the light on the...
- Mountains Of Burma
The tucker box is empty now, the heart of Kelly's country clearedThe gangers on the southern line, like the steam trains have disappearedPelicans glide, miracles up in the skyWe vote for the government, with axes in...
- Tell Me The Truth
I believe we're crossing the great ravineStill yearning half way a strangerI believe in our multiplictyStill part-blind no reason for angerI believe we pull up our roots and retreatA new crop of aerials in Dacca and...
- Renaissance Man
Well I told you about the forest and trees and the chlorophyll greenYes I told you the birds will endure flutter wings dance on leavesHold onto dreams, hold onto dreams tonightWell I told you about the high pressure...
- Outbreak Of Love
The world is crashing down on me tonightThe walls are closing in on me tonightCos I know this is the end of the beginning of the outbreak of loveThe stars come falling down on me tonightSharks are coming up to feedI...
- Now Or Never Land
I grew tall in this lucky landAnd I thank God for that, but there's needles in the sandOzone in the eucalypt and on the Steppes tonightThere's pushing and a shoving on the throne tonightIt's a rhythm of the seaLost...
- My Country
Was it just a dream, were you so confusedWas it just a giant leap of logicWas it the time of year, that makes a state of fearMethods were the motives for the actionAnd did I hear you sayMy country right or wrongDid...
- Feeding Frenzy
Well I'm as old as the hillsAnd young as the dayNobody sees things, in quite the same wayComputers and shovels, churches and brothelsMannequins and skeletons, cities and dustbowlsHere we go here we go againHear the...
- Earth And Sun And Moon
In the morning we will wake up and take to the airLook back at the planet - I'm glued to my chairSouthern half is burning as we climb through the ckySea birds softly falling, smoke way up highThere's the contours of...
- Bushfire
In my shoes, in my shoesThere is so much to remind meAs the stars come out above me, homeCool wind, clear my headBright sun grow my foodStrong rain clear my heartFill my landIt's a new dayI don't know why it is...
- Drums Of Heaven
By the time the luminous descent of the bright star unfoldsAnd tablets of strange love are shattered and bruisedBy the time the oleander has fallen from bloomAnd the tears of the crocodile water the sunBy the time you...
- In The Valley
My grandfather went down with the MonteVideoThe rising sun sent him floating to his restAnd his wife fled south to Sydney seeking out safe harbourA North Shore matron she became with some paying guestsMy father went...
- Bullroarer
In the desert in the dryBefore the breaking of the rainThe temperature in the shadeHad reached a hundred and ten againIn the desert in the dryOn the overland telegraph lineDon't take the law into your own handsDon't...
- Whoah
The lord is my templeGod is by my sideYou pay rates on that templeBuild materials at the sideHe gives reasonsTo get through the dayHe doesn't have rinse actionHe just saysWhoah - ohDon't wanna see you back here...
- Arctic World
I don't wanna grow anything in my heartI don't want to write all these things in the sandI don't want to listen and not understandI don't want to tramp up the footpath of starsDon't want to be an advocateDon't want to...
- Warakurna
There is enough for everyoneIn Redfern as there is in AliceThis is not the Buckingham PalaceThis the crown landThis is the brown landThis is not our landSome folks live in water tanksSome folks live in red brick...
- Put Down That Weapon
Under the waterlineNo place to retireTo another timeThe eyes of the world now turnAnd if we think about itAnd if we talk about itAnd if the skies go dark with rainCan you tell me will our freedom remainPut down that...
- Sell My Soul
Let's begin, I am ready, let's beginSell my soul to himShed my skin, I just wanna shed my skinI don't wanna sell my soul to himMechanize, city bursts and farmers dieThey crySleep face down in a goods train heading...
- Gunbarrel Highway
Ill give you something to write home aboutAnd Ill take you somewhere, show you aroundWe burnt all the cars that laid down and diedWe burnt all the trees to keep us aliveSat round the fire, sang like a choirWith the...
- Sometimes
I know that the sunset empire shudders and shakesI know there's a floodgate and a raging riverI say the silence of the ribbons of iron and steelI say hear the punch drunk huddle drive hammer and steelSometimes you're...
- US Forces
US Forces give the nod, it's a setback for your countryBombs and trenches all in rows, bombs and threats still ask for moreDivided world the CIA, who controls the issueYou leave us with no time to talk, you can write...
- Scream In Blue
(Instrumental to second part)Come to me now, be careful of what you sayDon't make a sound, there's noise enough in thisCome with me now, let night move into dayLet sheets keep secrets that no one else could knowI...
- Somebody's Trying To Tell Me Something
Breaking me down - lunatic noisesBreaking me down - desperate voicesBreaking me down - phone is blisteringBreaking me down - death by listeningSomebody's out there, Somebody's waitingSomebody's trying to tell me...
- The Power And The Passion
People, wasting away in paradiseGoing backward, once in a whileTaking your time, give it a tryWhat do you believe, what do you believeWhat do you believe is trueNothing they say makes a difference this wayNothing they...
- Tin Legs And Tin Mines
I'm gonna wait for the moment to comeI'm gonna wait till we all stop from runningBoxed in like candles, polar bear prideTurning to terror as the script is read outUnwilling actors, accomplished protractors will...
- Power And The Passion
People, wasting away in paradiseGoing backward, once in a whileMoving ahead, falling behindWhat do you believe, what do you believeWhat do you believe is trueNothing they say makes a difference this wayNothing they...
- Only The Strong
When I'm locked in my roomI just want to screamAnd I know what they mean(One more day of eating and sleeping)Speak to me, speak to meI'm not spoken for, I'm ready to talkLook at me, look at meI've been broken up and...
- Outside World
There's a wind on the eastern sideGhost gums dance in the moonlit nightMopoke mourns the racketeersThe bosses they can sense your moodAll in place to a hand that rulesThey all want to deal you outI can see the outside...
- Short Memory
Conquistador of Mexico, the Zulu and the NavahoThe Belgians in the Congo short memoryPlantation in Virginia, the Raj in British IndiaThe deadline in South Africa short memoryThe story of El Salvador, the silence of...
- Read About It
The rich get richer, the poor get the pictureThe bombs never hit you when you're down so lowSome got pollution, some revolutionThere must be some solution but I just don't knowThe bosses want decisions, the workers...
- Maralinga
(spoken)I come from a land of wide open spacesWhere the world turns around us and we just follow suitThere's heat in the air and peace reigns supremeGot white flags on the clothes lines and the deals are newIn the...
- Blosson And Blood
You the mothers who sent your sonsWipe away your tearsFor those who fought and those who fellBecome our sons as well.You the warriors with your wordsThrow away your spearsYou talk of times of peace for allAnd then...
- Pictures
I just want to see that clear clear ightDon't want to be a member of a species that's deceasingKeep on making those promises that they aren't keepingOh I was a talking to the people next doorSaid they don't want to...
- Knife's Edge
On a knife edge razor dayIf you listen long enough they've got nothing to sayIt's a time warp place don't changeThe rhythm of the night, the beating rainYou move fast to get off of that merry-go-roundThere's one gun,...
- I'm The Cure
Tell all your friends I'm the cureTell them again and againWatching the walls, spinning in doorsI can bring you peace of mindUse me whenever you pleaseSweeter than sweet memoriesEverything's neat, avoiding the heatI...
- Wedding Cake Island
Instrumental
- No Time For Games
The raising of children, the rearing of youngUsed to be simple but look what it's becomeThe choice of career, the proper vocationOut of your hands, all for the needs of the nationNo inhibitions with the modern...
- Progress
Say yes to a real life ambition, say yes to our hopes and our plansForget about your indecision, let's get the beast off our landA tree that can grow no longer, a beach that has got no sandI would pay out a king's...
- People Of Australia
Yeah, people of Australia, sing this songSee many faces from many places, yeahWe all live in one countryBut we all come from many others you seeUnited we dearly holdThe principles of equalityAnd dignityAnd...
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Midnight Oil
Lyrics
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