And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

When I was a young man I carried my pack

And I lived the free life of a rover

From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback

I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son

It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be

done

So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun

And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

As we sailed away from the quay

And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the

cheers

We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day

the blood stained the sand and the water

And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well

He us with bullets, he rained us with

shells

And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell

Nearly blew us right back to Australia

But the band played Waltzing Matilda

As we stopped to bury our slain

And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs

Then started all over again

Now those

In mad world of blood, death and fire

And for weeks I kept myself alive

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit

And when I woke up in my hospital bed

And saw what it had done, I wished I was

dead

Never knew there were worse things than dying

no more I'll go waltzing Matilda

the green far and near

For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs

No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded

maimed

And they shipped us back home to Australia

Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay

I looked at the place where legs used to be

And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me

To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

As they carried us down the gangway

But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared

turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch

And I watch the parade pass before me

my old comrades, how proudly they march

Reliving dreams of past glory

The forgotten heroes a forgotten war

And the young people ask , "What are they

marching for?"

And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda

And the old men answer to the call

But year after year their numbers get fewer

Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

Who'll a-waltzing Matilda with me?