How do you sleep?

Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil

Lyrics

Out where the river broke

The bloodwood and the desert oak

Holden wrecks and boiling diesels

Steam in forty five degrees

The time has come

To say fair's fair

To pay the rent

To pay our share

The time has come

A fact's a fact

It belongs to them

Let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

How can we dance when our earth is turning

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

The time has come to say fairs fair

To pay the rent, now to pay our share

Four wheels scare the cockatoos

From Kintore East to Yuendemu

The western desert lives and breathes

In forty five degrees

The time has come

To say fair's fair

To pay the rent

To pay our share

The time has come

A fact's a fact

It belongs to them

Let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

How can we dance when our earth is turning

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

The time has come to say fair's fair

To pay the rent, now to pay our share

The time has come, a fact's a fact

It belongs to them, let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

This is a political song about giving native Australian lands back to the the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert. These 'last contact' people began moving from the Gibson Desert to settlements and missions in the 1930s. In 1981 they left to return to their own country and established the Kintore community in the Kintore Ranges.

Midnight Oil performed this in front of a world audience of billions, including Prime Minister John Howard, at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The whole band were dressed in black, with the words "sorry" printed conspicuously on their clothes. This was a reference to the Prime Minister's refusal to apologize, on behalf of Australia, to the Aboriginal Australians for the way they have been mistreated over the last 200 years.