
The most popular single from Midnight Oil’s breakthrough fourth studio album, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. As one of the band's most famous songs, it has been performed on every Midnight Oil tour since its release. The video was filmed in 1982 amongst the ‘Woolloomooloo Mural Project’ in Sydney. The song highlights disparities between those ‘living in paradise’ and those falling behind, and references Australian symbols and places, from panel vans to Pine Gap. The track came to symbolise the passionate performance style of the band and its lead singer Peter Garrett. It peaked at No. 8, with the album peaking at No. 3, and remained in the charts for 171 weeks. In May 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association named the song as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.