I am driving late at night; a classic rock station plays along in the background. On comes Jimmy Barnes with Working Class Man. It never occurred to me to look at a piece of music through the demographic lens. This beloved Australian rock anthem is littered with demographic references that beg to be explored by your local Stats Guy… Before we start you might need a refresher on the song on YouTube or Spotify.

Here are the lyrics.

Jimmy Barnes, 1985 Photo: NFSA

Let’s start with the artist himself. Born in Scotland in 1956, Jimmy Barnes migrated to Australia in 1962. That made him part of the European migration wave of the 1950s and 1960s. Jimmy was one of the famous Ten Pound Poms. That’s what the millions of British migrants who emigrated to Australia between 1945 to 1972 were called as the sea voyage cost ten pounds. It was mostly the low and unskilled labouring class that came to Australia in search for better employment opportunities (and likely warmer weather) in those days.

Today our migration intake has changed from Western to Eastern nations. Our migration system is based on qualifications and skills rather than race or ethnicity. We are not taking in significant numbers of Europeans anymore for three reasons. Firstly, there aren’t all that many young Europeans left. Secondly, since tertiary education is mostly free in Europe, they don’t see why they should pay an arm and a leg for an Australian uni degree. Thirdly, the occupations that Australia needs the most align beautifully with what Asian nations have to offer (think Indian IT professionals or Filipino care workers).

Let’s jump to the song. The first line “Working hard to make a living” immediately characterises the Working Class Man. Why a working-class man rather than a working-class woman? Well, in the 1980s women were much less likely to participate in the workforce than they are today. The rest of the text tells us that his hard work is a matter of character as much as the circumstances demanding such hard work.

Who could be surprised that our national obsession with homeownership gets mentioned in our favourite rock anthem? Our Working Class Man is concerned with “Bringing shelter from the rain”. The chart below might read a little funny since the difference between Census years isn’t always the same. The rapid fall of the homeownership rate was most likely to do with a differently phrased census questions during the 1970s. In reality, homeownership has steadily declined since its peak in 1966. Our working-class protagonist in 1985 has seen 20 years of falling homeownership rates and needs to work just a little harder every year to ensure he can put a roof over his head.

The lyrics tell of a proud and hard-working man who holds on to employment in a declining industry. We are uncertain about his job but learn that he has “blue denim in his veins” and is a “steel town disciple”. That sounds like a manufacturing worker to me. Jimmy Barnes released the song in 1985 when the peak of Australian manufacturing was already 20 years in the past. No wonder there is a melancholic tone to this pub rock anthem.

Australian jobs are increasingly in the services sector. Image: Grattan Institute

The Working Class Man “believes in god and Elvis”. That makes him like most of his contemporaries. Only 13 per cent of the population in 1986 claimed to have no religious affiliation – today that figure is exactly three times as high (39 per cent). Demographically speaking this reference didn’t age well.

The song’s lyrics are deliberately ambiguous regarding geography. A 1980s man who “did his time in Vietnam” and is “still mad at Uncle Sam” could have lived in Australia or the US. The legendary music video featuring burning cane fields painted an iconic picture of a truly Australian working-class man though. In modern live versions of the song the “midwestern sky” is sometimes replaced by “Australian sky”. In either case, the sentiment of surviving in a steadily declining sector despite working extremely hard would have resonated with Australian and American audiences alike, as US manufacturing followed a similar trajectory.

The Working Class Man “loves a little woman” that “someday he’ll make his wife”. No ambiguity about his feelings. This woman is “the one love of his life” and we can safely ignore all divorce statistics (especially since Jimmy has been happily married for the last 42 years himself). Marriage was about twice as common in 1985 than today.

Number of marriages registered and crude marriage rate, 1901–2021. Source: aifs.gov.au

Working Class Man is a wonderful anthem of Australia’s past. The demographic variables the song refers to have shifted significantly over the last four decades. No wonder people claim that they can’t recognise their country anymore. The underlying spirit of the song however is still alive despite the erosion of the Australian middle-class and the continued transition of Australia into a knowledge economy.

Good music can act like a time capsule, helping us to view the past through contemporary eyes rather than hindsight. More importantly we can feel today how much of the sentiments of the Working Class Man still ring true today – everyone will feel this truth differently of course.

If you know of other songs that you want to receive the demographics treatment, make sure to comment on this story or on my social media channels (see below). I’d be happy make this the start of a series.

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher is a co-founder of The Demographics Group. His columns, media commentary and public speaking focus on current socio-demographic trends and how these impact Australia. Follow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn for daily data insights in short format.