Beds Are Burning


"Beds Are Burning" is a song by the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their sixth album, Diesel and Dust. This song was released as the second single from the album. It reached No. 1 in [Official Official New Zealand Music Chart|New Zealand Music Chart|New Zealand], South Africa and Canada, No. 6 in Australia, and No. 17 in the United States. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and 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.
The band performed the song live during the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics without the permission of the IOC due to the political message the song sends.
In May 2001, Australasian Performing Right Association 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".
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Beds Are Burning" was ranked number 9. In 2025, the song placed 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

Composition

After Midnight Oil toured through the Outback in 1986, playing to remote Aboriginal communities and seeing firsthand the seriousness of the issues in health and living standards, Peter Garrett, Jimmy Moginie and Rob Hirst wrote "Beds Are Burning" to criticise how said populations were often removed from their lands, highlighted by the pre-chorus lines "it belongs to them, let's give it back". Considering such a local affair inspired a worldwide hit, Garrett commented "Who would have thought an Aboriginal land rights song would travel that far?" There are specific references to certain Australian places and politics, such as Kintore Ranges and the town of Yuendumu, vehicles produced by the Holden company, the "It's Time" slogan and the notion of "fair go".
In an interview with British website and publication Songwriting Magazine, Rob Hirst discussed how Midnight Oil were determined to be seen as an Australian band. In the same conversation he stated, "Land rights are something that appear in so many countries around the world, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, but we were determined that Midnight Oil wouldn't be seen as one of those international bands, writing songs that could have come from anywhere. We were determined to put place names and other specific bits and pieces in all our songs."

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position

Year-end charts

Chart Rank
Belgium 47
Canada Top Singles 6
Europe 84
Netherlands 25
Netherlands 30
New Zealand 11
South Africa 10

Chart Rank
UK Singles 99

Live version

A live recording from 1989 was released in 1992, as the second and final single from the band's compilation of live recordings album, Scream in Blue.

Cover versions