Award-winning song by Pseudo Echo inspired by Steve Moneghetti

A top Aussie band records a song about a super-fast runner, it wins an international award - and the athlete doesn't find out for 36 years.

In fact he saw the band in concert and never cottoned-on.

Are you Living in a Dream? Well keep Listening - ahem - reading.

Pseudo Echo's award winning 1987 song Take on the World was in fact written about another award-winner - Steve Moneghetti.

The marathon runner, Aussie team leader and all-round Ballarat legend had no idea. Until now.

"It's got a good melody," Moneghetti said during a surprise reveal at the The Courier's office.

"Yeah - I know this band. Who are they? It's an Australian band from the '80s.

"Is it Rat Cat?"

It took a minute - or in Mona's world, about 321 metres - to catch on.

"That's pretty good! It's quite catchy isn't it?," he said.

"I actually saw them (in Melbourne) a couple of years ago and they were really good.

"I don't think they knew I was there.

"Pseudo Echo were a massive band in the '80s when I was growing up.

"I'm surprised, I've absolutely never heard of this before.

"It's an honour and I'm glad it was an award-winning song. I never ever would have imagined."

So how did all this come about?

Think back to the time of Halley's Comet, unleaded fuel for 60 cents a litre and the lead up to the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Vocalist and lyricist Brian Canham lived in Melbourne's inner east - where a neighbour ran a running group.

"His name was Graeme and the group would always run towards Fawkner Park (South Yarra)," Brian said.

"I don't know how long this group lasted - maybe it was only a few weeks - but there was this one guy called Steve who was so dedicated and so fast. He ran every morning at the crack of dawn.

"I was just amazed.

"I was chatting to my neighbour one day and he said Steve had won a medal. This stuck in my head.

"I really know very little about sport and I had no idea. I was so obsessed with music at the time.

"I didn't even know Steve's full name, but when someone showed me a picture recently, straight away I realised it was him.

"It was definitely Steve Moneghetti. No doubt at all."

Brian said he had written a short piece of "almost classical" music and drummer Vince Leigh crafted it into shape, adding chord progressions.

The words came next.

"I thought of this amazing runner. I had no idea who he actually was," Canham said.

"It's hard coming up with lyrics that fit.

"I started with the chorus in this case, then wrote the verses that fed into it."

The song is anthemic, motivating, uplifting and 'earwormy'.

Take on the World was released as a single in Japan - where it took out gold at the Tokyo World Popular Song Festival in 1987.

"The Japanese loved the lyrics and the theme," Canham said.

"The whole thing was a bit surreal. We were on a stage with Bonnie Tyler. Stevie Wonder was just there next to us. I couldn't believe it."

Mona admits he wasn't a big Pseudo Echo fan in the day, but loved their live gigs.

When told an award-winning song had been written about him as a 24-year-old 'unknown' the now-60-year-old tried to hazard a guess.

"I'd like to see anyone write lyrics about Moneghetti. The only thing it rhymes with is spaghetti," he said.

"I believe (former Playschool presenter) Don Spencer wrote a song about a bunch of Australians and he dropped the name Moneghetti in there somewhere.

"But that is the only song I know of with a reference in it."

Moneghetti said he only just qualified for the Edinburgh Games - where he ran in the 10,000 metre, finishing fifth.

"They put me in the marathon at the last minute," he said.

The 24-year-old was described by commentators as "the future of Australian running" when he collected a bronze medal on debut.

It was the first of many from the Commonwealth Games.

So if Duran Duran opened the Birmingham Games - could Take on the World have been a great song for Victoria 2026?

"We could've had (Pseudo Echo) at the Commonwealth Games in Ballarat in 2026 - had the Games happened - but sadly, not," the former Commonwealth Games Chef de Mission said.

"Music is an important part of opening and closing ceremonies."

Ballarat's Eureka Stadium was due to host the athletics and locals ran a huge campaign to attract the marathon before the entire event was cancelled with three years to go.

Moneghetti said it was rare that he listened to music while training - instead preferring Mother Nature and good conversation - but the CD rack at home included the Angels, Screaming Jets, Died Pretty and Violent Femmes.

Brian said the 1988 album Race which featured the song was controversial at the time because it marked a dramatic shift to hard rock.

"Take on the World would have been the third single from that album, but it was not released in Australia," he said.

"I've been performing for a long time but it's been good to put these Race songs back into the set.

"We only ever did one national tour with that album but funnily enough over the years it's developed a cult following."

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