And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

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