Home
My City — All AU
All Australia Adelaide Brisbane Canberra Darwin Gold Coast Hobart Melbourne Perth Sydney
What's On
Tonight All Gigs My Saved Festivals Set Times Venues Adelaide Brisbane Canberra Darwin Gold Coast Hobart Melbourne Perth Sydney Regional Towns Snap a Gig
Discover
Music
Artists Songs Albums Genres Playlists Videos
Media & Catalogue
Photos Photographers Setlists The Archive Past Gigs
Charts & Countdowns
Musick.com.au Top 100 VOTE Atomic Top 20 Atomic Top 100 of 2025 Triple J Hottest 100 All Awards Lists Browse all countdowns → Start a Countdown
Musickpedia News
Community
The Shed Buy & sell music gear Pub Quiz Live music trivia
Sign In / Sign Up Industry Portal For artists, venues & media
Album artwork for Be Good Johnny by Men At Work

Be Good Johnny

by Men At Work

2026 · Rock · 3:34

About this song

  • "Be Good Johnny" is a 1982 song by Australian band, Men at Work, from their first album, Business as Usual. The song is written from the viewpoint of a 9-year-old boy who is constantly being told to be good, but prefers to daydream rather than concentrate in class or play sports. Johnny feels like he understands some of his instructions, but also that he is completely misunderstood by the adult world. The lead singer, Colin Hay, uses his voice in different ways throughout the song to imitate Johnny, Johnny's mother and father, and his teacher. The song also features spoken dialog by keyboardist Greg Ham as he tries to figure out what Johnny is like. The title of the song is a reference to Johnny B. Goode. Although the song was played moderately on US radio stations, it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 as it was not released in the states as a physical single, a criterion that was still used by the Hot 100 at the time. The song did chart and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US. . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply. — lastfm
  • "Be Good Johnny" is a song by Australian band Men at Work, released in April 1982 as the third and final single from their debut album, Business as Usual (1981). — wikipedia

More from Men At Work

No Restrictions (Album Version) artwork
No Restrictions (Album Version)
2026
Helpless Automaton (Album Version) artwork
Helpless Automaton (Album Version)
2026
Settle Down My Boy (Album Version) artwork
Settle Down My Boy (Album Version)
2026
Catch a Star (Album Version) artwork
Catch a Star (Album Version)
2026
Hard Luck Story (Album Version) artwork
Hard Luck Story (Album Version)
2026
High Wire (Album Version) artwork
High Wire (Album Version)
2026
Land Downunder artwork
Land Downunder
2026
Shintaro (Album Version) artwork
Shintaro (Album Version)
2026

See all songs by Men At Work ›