A song reveling in the joys of traveling to Bali during the ’80s, by Australian folk band Redgum, has made a viral comeback, prompting netizens to remember the island’s golden days before “it got too crowded.”
Making waves in 1984 when it was first released, Australian singer-songwriter John Schumann with his floppy hair and thick beard, takes us with his upbeat tune through Poppies in Kuta before it got so hectic, out on a boat ride in some very peaceful waters, along green-terraced rice fields in Ubud, and other nearly unrecognizable spots that have now been built up with the arrival of mass tourism to the island.
The song gets its name from the lovely lyric, “You can’t impress me, because I’ve been to Bali too.”
One of our favorite lyrics, alludes to the time Paul McCartney was locked up in Japan in 1980 for nine days for trying to bring in half a pound of marijuana into the country—which is still relevant given Indonesia’s own obsession with drug smuggling:
“Went through my bags like McCartney in Japan, I didn’t have a thing, so I didn’t give a damn.
“You can’t trick me, because I’ve been to Bali too.”
Though a product of the 80s, a resurgence of interest in the song happened this week when local surfing magazine Bali Belly posted the music video to their Facebook page, in a version complete with lyrics.
Since posted on Wednesday, the video has been viewed over 400,000 times, shared over 6,000 times, and has a couple of thousand comments, reminiscing about Bali back then.
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