[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?