Kitch's Top 10 Classic Australian Rock Songs - #2 "Working Class Man"

"Working Class Man" – Jimmy Barnes

 

Writer(s): Jonathan Cain

Album: For The Working Class Man

Released: 1985

Peak Chart Position: #5

For sure and certain, this is Barnesy’s anthem, and one of the best fist-pumping songs ever recorded in this country. It's almost un-Australian to not know the words to this blue-collar rocker, and, it’s so important to our national psyche that Barnes performed it at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, amongst a host of other similarly-classic Australian songs and artists. 

Unequivocally and unashamedly Australian (despite the fact that the writer, Journey's Jonathan Cain, isn't Australian), from the album of a similar name, From For The Working Class Man, the story of a steelworker on hard times resonated with Australians like Cold Chisel’s ‘Khe Sanh’ did. 

How many of us can honestly say that we haven’t belted out this song whilst drunk at a party? It’s epic, especially when you hear it in concert. Guaranteed, every single person in the room will get up and belt it out as loud, or louder, than Barnesy himself. It's a great song on CD, but an even better one live!