| [00:07.57] |
When I was a young man I carried my pack |
| [00:14.14] |
And I lived the free life of a rover |
| [00:20.90] |
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback |
| [00:27.96] |
I waltzed my Matilda all over |
| [00:35.03] |
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said |
| [00:39.68] |
Son, It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done |
| [00:48.31] |
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun |
| [00:55.23] |
And they sent me away to the war |
| [01:02.07] |
And the band played Waltzing Matilda |
| [01:09.07] |
As we sailed away from the quay |
| [01:15.56] |
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers |
| [01:22.54] |
We sailed off for Gallipoli |
| [01:29.27] |
How well I remember that terrible day |
| [01:35.85] |
When the blood stained the sand and the water |
| [01:43.25] |
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay |
| [01:49.74] |
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter |
| [01:56.70] |
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well |
| [02:03.87] |
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shells |
| [02:10.36] |
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell |
| [02:18.40] |
Nearly blew us right back to Australia |
| [02:24.41] |
And the band played Waltzing Matilda |
| [02:31.44] |
As we stopped to bury our slain |
| [02:38.10] |
And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs |
| [02:46.36] |
And then it started all over again |
| [02:51.90] |
Now those who were living did their best to survive |
| [02:58.96] |
In that mad world of death, blood and fire |
| [03:05.71] |
And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive |
| [03:12.80] |
While the corpses around me piled higher |
| [03:19.60] |
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit |
| [03:27.06] |
And when I awoke in my hospital bed |
| [03:33.02] |
And saw what it had done |
| [03:36.36] |
Christ I wished I was dead |
| [03:40.06] |
Never knew there were worse things than dying |
| [03:47.29] |
And no more I'll go waltzing Matilda |
| [03:54.21] |
Through the green bushes so far and near |
| [04:01.10] |
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs |
| [04:07.76] |
No more waltzing Matilda for me |
| [04:14.88] |
|
| [04:47.32] |
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed |
| [04:54.43] |
And they shipped us back home to Australia |
| [05:01.55] |
The legless, the armless, the blind and the insane |
| [05:08.38] |
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla |
| [05:14.88] |
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay |
| [05:22.07] |
I looked at the place where me legs used to be |
| [05:28.61] |
And thank Christ there was nobody who waiting for me |
| [05:35.51] |
To grieve and to mourn and to pity |
| [05:42.26] |
And the band played Waltzing Matilda |
| [05:49.18] |
As they carried us down the gangway |
| [05:55.99] |
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared |
| [06:02.77] |
And they turned their faces away |
| [06:10.08] |
And now every April I sit on my porch |
| [06:16.78] |
And I watch the parade pass before me |
| [06:23.70] |
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march |
| [06:30.28] |
Reliving dreams of past glory |
| [06:37.24] |
I see the old men, all twisted and torn |
| [06:44.24] |
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war |
| [06:50.94] |
And the young people ask me, "What are they marching for?" |
| [06:57.97] |
And I ask myself the same question |
| [07:05.43] |
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda |
| [07:11.69] |
And the old men still answer the call |
| [07:19.01] |
But year after year their numbers get fewer |
| [07:24.61] |
Some day no one will march there at all |
| [07:32.18] |
Waltzing Matilda < |
| [07:35.45] |
Waltzing Matilda < |
| [07:38.81] |
Who gonna a-waltzing Matilda with me? |