Downhearted
title: "Downhearted" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1980-songs", "1980-singles", "australian-crawl-songs", "emi-records-singles", "songs-written-by-guy-mcdonough"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downhearted" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Downhearted |
| cover | Ac-downhearted.jpg |
| type | single |
| artist | Australian Crawl |
| album | The Boys Light Up |
| B-side | Way I've Been |
| released | |
| genre | Pop rock |
| length | |
| label | EMI |
| writer | Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough |
| producer | David Briggs |
| prev_title | The Boys Light Up |
| prev_year | 1980 |
| next_title | Things Don't Seem |
| next_year | 1981 |
| :: |
::callout[type=note] the 1980 song by Australian Crawl ::
| name = Downhearted | cover = Ac-downhearted.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Australian Crawl | album = The Boys Light Up | B-side = Way I've Been | released = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Pop rock | length = | label = EMI | writer = Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough | producer = David Briggs | prev_title = The Boys Light Up | prev_year = 1980 | next_title = Things Don't Seem | next_year = 1981
"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. All three songwriters had been bandmates in the Flatheads, but at the time only Bill McDonough was a member of Australian Crawl. It was produced by David Briggs.
"Downhearted" was released in June 1980 and reached number 12 on the Australian Singles Chart in July 1980.
Different B-sides were released in different markets. Australian B-side was "Way I've Been" written by Australian Crawl member Brad Robinson and his father James Robinson. James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice. Canadian B-side was "Indisposed" was co-written by the Robinsons with James Reyne and Bill McDonough. The song describes the car accident which resulted in Reyne breaking both wrists immediately before they recorded their first single "Beautiful People" (1979). The B-side for the UK release was "Letter From Zimbabwe" (Reyne).
Covers
"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.
Track listing
- "Downhearted" (Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough) – 3:09
- "Way I've Been" (Brad Robinson, James Robinson) – 2:17
Charts
Weekly charts
::data[format=table] | Chart (1980) | Peak position | |---|---| | last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=21}} | 12 | ::
Year-end charts
::data[format=table]
| Chart (1980) | Position | Australia (Kent Music Report) |
|---|---|---|
| 96 | ||
| :: |
Certifications
References
References
- "Australasian Performing Right Association". [[Australasian Performing Right Association.
- "Australian Crawl". [[Australian Rock Database]]. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren).
- Kent, David. (1993). "[[Kent Music Report". Australian Chart Book.
- "Australian Crawl music albums". GEMM.
- "Memorable TV Oz Rock: Australian Crawl entry". Memorable TV / Little Acorns Publishing.
- "Countdown Club entry on Australian Crawl". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- "John Farnham". [[Australian Rock Database]] (Magnus Holmgren).
- Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
- (5 January 1981). "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". [[Kent Music Report]].
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::