• flathead@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Eric Bogle - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

    https://yewtu.be/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI

    Now, when I was a young man, I carried my pack
    And I lived the free life of a 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 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 the ship pulled away from the quay
    And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
    We sailed off for Gallipoli
    
    How well I remember that terrible day
    How our 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 waiting, he 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 the slain
    We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
    Then we started all over again 
    
    Now those who were left  did their best to survive
    In that mad world of death, blood, and fire
    And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
    While the corpses around me piled higher
    
    Then a big Turkish shell knocked 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
    To the green bush far and free
    For to hang tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
    No more waltzing Matilda for me
    
    So they collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
    And they shipped us back home to Australia
    The legless, the armless, 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 thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
    To grieve, 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
    And they turned all their faces away
    
    And so now every April, I sit on my porch
    And I watch the parade pass before me
    I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
    Reliving old dreams of past glory
    
    And the old men march slowly, their bones stiff and sore
    The forgotten heroes of 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, those 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 you pass by that billabong
    You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.