The Band Played Waltzing Matilda





G



               C           G 

 When I was a young man I carried my pack 

        G              D         G 

 And I lived the free life of a rover 

           G             D            C        G 

 From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback 

    G            D        G 

 I waltzed my Matilda all over 

          D                    C           G 

 Then in nineteen fifteen my country said oeSon, 

       D                                 C          G 

 Itoes time to stop rambling cos thereoes work to be doneoe 

          G         C                G 

 So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun 

           G       D          G 

 And they sent me away to the war 





          G           C          G 

 And the band played Waltzing Matilda 

    G           C             D 

 As we sailed away from the quay 

       C                            G 

 And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers 

     G             D      G 

 We sailed off to Gallipoli 



    

  G            C           G 

 How well I remember that terrible day 

            G                D            G 

 When the blood stained the sand and the water 

      G            D              C            G  

 And when in that town that they called Suvla Bay 

          G              D             G 

 We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter 

         D                       C            G 

 Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well 

         D                       C              G 

 He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells 

         G             C         G 

 And in five minutes flat heoed blown us all to hell 

   G                   D           G 

 Nearly blew us right back to Australia 





          G           C          G 

 And the band played Waltzing Matilda 

         G         C         D 

 As we stopped to bury our slain 

         C                   G 

 And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs 

           G         D      G 

 Then we started all over again 





       G              C                G 

 Now those that were living did their best to survive 

       G             D               G 

 In a mad world of blood, death and fire, 

           G           D       C            G 

 And, for seven long weeks, I kept myself alive 

          G         D             G 

 But the corpses around me piled higher 

         D                            C         G 

 Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit 

       D                 C        G 

 And when I awoke in my hospital bed 

          G          C               G 

 I saw what it had done. Christ ! I wished I was dead 

        G               D                  G 

 Never knew there were worse things than dying 





        G             C          G 

 For Ioell go no more waltzing Matilda 

                  G         C       D 

 All around the green bush far and near 

         C                     G 

 For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs 

          G          D         G 

 No more Waltzing Matilda for me 



    

              G          C               G 

 So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed, 

            G              D           G 

 And they shipped us back home to Australia 

      G            D             C           G 

 The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, 

         G            D           G 

 Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla 

      D                       C        G 

 And as our ship pulled into Circular Bay 

     D                     C           G 

 I looked at the place my legs used to be  

             G              C       G 

 And thank Christ there was no one waiting for me 

      G             D           G 

 To grieve and to mourn and to pity 

  



          G           C          G 

 And the band played Waltzing Matilda 

          G          C            D 

 As they carried us down the gangway 

      C                          G 

 But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared 

             G               D      G 

 Then they turned all their faces away 



    

      G         C       G 

 And now every April I sit on my porch 

        G           D           G 

 And I watch the parade pass before me 

    G          D             C            G 

 I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,   

      G         D              G 

 Renewing old dreams of past glory  

    D                                       C         G 

 I see the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore 

      D                       C         G 

 The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war  

           G            C               G 

 And the young people ask oewhat are they marching for ?oe 

       G      D              G 

 And I ask myself the same question 

  



          G           C          G 

 And the band played Waltzing Matilda 

          G             C             D 

 And the old men still answer to the call  

      C                     G 

 But year after year their number gets fewer 

             G         D             G 

 Some day no one will march there at all 



  G                 C 

 Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

   G                                  D 

 Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me