+
-

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

John Williamson

Text File

A               D            A
Now when I was a young man I carried me pack 
                      E           A
And I lived the free life of the rover.
A                       D             A
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
                   E             A
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
         B         A  
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
      B                              A
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
                    D                A
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
                     E          A
And they marched me away to the war.
                       D        A
And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
                    D             E
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
     D                               A
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
                  E       A
We sailed off for Gallipoli.
                 D            A
And how well I remember that terrible day,
                           E            A
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
                    D              A
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
                        E             A
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
        B                        A
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
     B                               A
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell �
                     D           A
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
                      E        A
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
                       D         A
But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
                    D        E
When we stopped to bury our slain,
      D                        A
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
                     E     A
Then we started all over again.
                     D              A
And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
                      E                 A
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
               D                    A
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
                       E              A
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
      B                              A
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
      B                     A
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
         D                          A
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead �
                      E                 A
Never knew there was worse things than dying.
                        D        A
For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
                      D            E
All around the green bush far and free �
      D                    A
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
                     E         A
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.
                        D             A
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
                          E            A
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
                     D         A
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
                      E         A
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
         B                      A
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
     B                          A
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
              D                       A
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
               E            A
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.
A                       D         A
But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
                    D          E
As they carried us down the gangway,
   D                            A
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
                            E     A
Then they turned all their faces away.
                   D        A
And so now every April, I sit on my porch
                  E               A
And I watch the parade pass before me.
                  D               A
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
                E            A
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
        B                          A
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
          B                        A
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
                      D              A
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
            E                 A
And I ask meself the same question.
                        D       A
But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
                        D         E
And the old men still answer the call,
       D                           A
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
                     E             A
Someday, no one will march there at all.
A                   D
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
A             D          A          E
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
            A            E             A             D    
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
A              D        E           A
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

search

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

John Williamson