"Downhearted" is the third single released by Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album The Boys Light Up. The song was written by Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough and Bill McDonough.[1] All three songwriters had been bandmates in the Flatheads, but at the time only Bill McDonough was a member of Australian Crawl.[2] It was produced by David Briggs.[2]

"Downhearted"
Single by Australian Crawl
from the album The Boys Light Up
B-side"Way I've Been"
ReleasedJune 1980 (1980-06)
GenrePop rock
Length3:09
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough
Producer(s)David Briggs
Australian Crawl singles chronology
"The Boys Light Up"
(1980)
"Downhearted"
(1980)
"Things Don't Seem"
(1981)

"Downhearted" was released in June 1980 and reached number 12 on the Australian Singles Chart in July 1980.[3]

Different B-sides were released in different markets.[4] Australian B-side was "Way I've Been" written by Australian Crawl member Brad Robinson and his father James Robinson.[1] James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice.[5] Canadian B-side was "Indisposed" was co-written by the Robinsons with James Reyne and Bill McDonough.[1] The song describes the car accident which resulted in Reyne breaking both wrists immediately before they recorded their first single "Beautiful People" (1979).[6] The B-side for the UK release was "Letter From Zimbabwe" (Reyne).[1]

Covers

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"Downhearted" was covered by Dutch prog rock band Solution and appeared on their 1982 album Runaway with an added bridge to the song. Australian pop singer John Farnham sang it on his 2005 covers album I Remember When I Was Young.[7]

Track listing

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  1. "Downhearted" (Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough)[1] – 3:09
  2. "Way I've Been" (Brad Robinson, James Robinson)[1] – 2:17

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (1980) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[8] 12

Year-end charts

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Chart (1980) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] 96

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on January 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  2. ^ a b Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan; Draper, Oliver; McDonough, Bill. "Australian Crawl". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  3. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  4. ^ "Australian Crawl music albums". GEMM. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  5. ^ "Memorable TV Oz Rock: Australian Crawl entry". Memorable TV / Little Acorns Publishing. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  6. ^ "Countdown Club entry on Australian Crawl". ABC. Archived from the original on 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  7. ^ Holmgren, Magnus; Reboulet, Scott; Albury, Lyn; Birtles, Beeb; Warnqvist, Stefan; Medlin, Peter. "John Farnham". Passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  8. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 21. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report. 5 January 1981. Retrieved 17 January 2022 – via Imgur.