And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
When I was a young man I carried me pack I lived the free life of a rover From the Murray's green banks to the dusty outback Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in 1915 my country said: Son, Time to stop rambling, there's work to be done And they gave me a tin hat, they gave me a gun And they marched me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda As the ship sailed away from the quay Midst the songs and the cheers, flag waving and tears We sailed off for Gallipoli
It's well I remember that terrible day Our blood stained the sand and the water And of how in that hell we call Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter The big Turkish shell caught me arse over head And when I awoke in my hospital bed And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead Never knew there was worse things than dying
For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda All along the green land running free For to hunt and to pace, a man needs both legs No more waltzing Matilda for me
They gathered the injured, 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 the ship sailed into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thank Christ there was nobody there waiting for me To mourn and to grieve and to pity
And the Band played Waltzing Matilda As they wheeled us down the gangway And nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared Then they turned all their faces away
And the band still plays Waltzing Matilda And the young men still answer the call But as year follows year, more young men disappear Someday, no one will march here at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
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