Co-written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, "Touching the Untouchables" appears on Men at Work's 1981 debut album Business as Usual, released on Columbia Records. The song's lyrics were partly inspired by a real encounter during the band's early gigging days: returning from a cold winter night performance, they saw a homeless man asleep in a phone booth in Fitzroy, Melbourne, with the receiver off the hook so he would not be disturbed. Hay and Strykert had begun collaborating in 1977 after meeting in a backyard in West Melbourne, where Strykert impressed Hay with his playing of an Ovation twelve-string acoustic guitar. They formed Men at Work as an acoustic duo in 1978, initially performing at venues like the Cricketers Arms Hotel in Richmond, Victoria, before expanding the lineup. The original recording features Hay on guitar and lead vocals, Strykert on guitar and vocals, Jerry Speiser on drums and vocals, Greg Ham on fiddle, flute, keyboards, saxophone, and vocals, and John Rees on bass and vocals, with production by Peter McIan. On AllSolos, Strykert's electric guitar solo on this track is featured. The song is a deep cut from an album that became a global blockbuster, though it was never released as a single. It has rarely been covered, with only one known version by Hellvetika.
