"Beds Are Burning" is a 1987/1988 worldwide hit single by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their album Diesel and Dust. This song was the second from the album to be released as a single, and is among the band's best-known songs outside Australia.
It reached No. 1 in the New Zealand and South African charts, No. 2 in Canada, No. 3 in the Netherlands Top 40, No. 5 in the France Top 50, No. 6 in the United Kingdom charts, No. 11 in Ireland, No. 17 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, in Sweden and Denmark.
It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
It was named number 95 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s and number 97 by the Triple J Hottest 100 Of All Time in 2009.
In May 2001, Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs of all time, as decided by a 100 strong industry panel. "Beds Are Burning" was declared third behind the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock".
Read more about Beds Are Burning: Meaning, Performances, Other Appearances, Cover Versions
Famous quotes containing the words beds are, beds and/or burning:
“Bored with the foolish things that girls must dream
Because their beds are empty of delight,”
—Roy Campbell (1902–1957)
“Nature in darkness groans
And men are bound to sullen contemplation in the night:
Restless they turn on beds of sorrow; in their inmost brain
Feeling the crushing wheels, they rise, they write the bitter words
Of stern philosophy & knead the bread of knowledge with tears & groans.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“The host is rushing ‘twixt night and day,
And where is there hope or deed as fair?
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)