The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Song The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Artist The Pogues
Album Rum Sodomy & The Lash

Lyrics

[00:07.00]
[00:09.77] When I was a young man I carried my pack
[00:15.70] And I lived the free life of a rover
[00:22.81] From the murrays green basin to the dusty outback
[00:29.62] I waltzed my matilda all over
[00:36.61] Then in nineteen fifteen my country said son
[00:43.46] It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
[00:50.15] So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
[00:57.15] And they sent me away to the war
[01:01.15]
[01:03.95] And the band played Waltzing Matilda
[01:10.53] As we sailed away from the quay
[01:17.38] And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
[01:24.03] We sailed off to Gallipoli
[01:31.18] How well I remember that terrible day
[01:37.58] When the blood stained the sand and the water
[01:45.07] And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
[01:51.42] We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
[01:58.38] Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
[02:05.58] He showered us with bullets, he rained us with shells
[02:12.03] And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
[02:18.98] Nearly blew us right back to Australia
[02:23.00]
[02:25.71] But the band played waltzing Matilda
[02:32.36] As we stopped to bury our slain
[02:39.41] And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
[02:46.31] Then it started all over again
[02:53.29] Now those who were living did their best to survive
[03:00.04] In that mad world of death, blood and fire
[03:07.08] And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive
[03:13.93] While the corpses around me piled higher
[03:20.78] Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
[03:27.59] And when I woke up in my hospital bed
[03:34.49] And saw what it had done, Christ I wished I was dead
[03:41.27] Never knew there were worse things than dying
[03:48.62] And no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
[03:55.31] To the green bushes so far and near
[04:02.14] For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
[04:09.00] No more waltzing Matilda for me
[04:21.19]
[04:33.19] <Music>
[04:45.19]
[04:48.27] So they collected the cripples, the wounded and maimed
[04:55.07] And they shipped us back home to Australia
[05:02.10] The legless, the armless, the blind and insane
[05:08.85] Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
[05:15.70] And as our ship pulled into circular quay
[05:22.75] I looked at the place where me legs used to be
[05:29.25] And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
[05:36.08] To grieve and to mourn and to pity
[05:40.00]
[05:42.92] And the band played Waltzing Matilda
[05:49.72] As they carried us down the gangway
[05:57.07] But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
[06:03.71] And they turned all their faces away
[06:10.75] And now every April I sit on my porch
[06:17.11] And I watch the parade pass before me
[06:24.17] I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
[06:30.60] Reliving the or their dreams of past glory
[06:37.85] i see the old men, all twisted and torn
[06:44.60] The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war
[06:51.29] And the young people ask me, "what are they marching for?"
[06:58.15] And I ask myself the same question
[07:04.89] And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
[07:11.64] And the old men still answer to the call
[07:18.64] But year after year their numbers get fewer
[07:25.14] Some day no one will march there at all
[07:32.55] Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
[07:39.30] Who'll go a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
[07:49.17] <Music>