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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe 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
How 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 chased 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
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again
Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
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
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush 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, 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 pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my 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
Then turned all their faces away
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
I see the old men, all twisted and torn
The forgotten heroes from 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 still answer 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 come a waltzing Matilda with me...
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The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Original Post)
WilliamPitt
Nov 2014
OP
Wow. I will never listen to Johnny Came Marching Home Again with out thinking of this version.
jwirr
Nov 2014
#11
In the 70s this song was very popular. I do not know who said it but this was the song that if
jwirr
Nov 2014
#10
Clancy Bros cover is better. Written by Eric Bogle. Also wrote "No Man's Land",
Doctor_J
Nov 2014
#9
tularetom
(23,664 posts)1. Best anti war song ever!
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)2. Agreed.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)3. "And the young people ask, 'What are they marching for?'
and I ask myself the same question."
Such a great song by The Pogues.
Warpy
(111,282 posts)4. Also in keeping with the reasons behind Armistice Day
jwirr
(39,215 posts)11. Wow. I will never listen to Johnny Came Marching Home Again with out thinking of this version.
Paper Roses
(7,473 posts)5. I am in tears, how pointless are wars. How awful the suffering.
I hope everyone took the time to look at the pictures and really listen to the this heartbreaking song. Pain, suffering, destruction, waste.
We have all lost so much and so many. WW1, WW ll, Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, here, there, everywhere.
It seems it will never end. Our history is sad, I hope our future is better.
What a amazing tribute to the brave soldiers of Australia.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)10. In the 70s this song was very popular. I do not know who said it but this was the song that if
anyone listened to it was supposed to end war forever. It says it all. My favorite protest song.
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)6. I love this song.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)7. Appropriate
America--economically dependent on wars.
panader0
(25,816 posts)8. Thanks--first time I've heard this.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)9. Clancy Bros cover is better. Written by Eric Bogle. Also wrote "No Man's Land",
also about the folly of war (WWI)
But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that were butchered and damned
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that were butchered and damned