The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Songtext / Lyric

When I was a young man I carried my pack and I lived the free live of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty Outback I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915 my Country said: "Son!It`s time to stop ramblin` The`s a work to be done"
So they gave me a tinhat and they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war. Chorus:

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda" as our ship pulled away from the kay
And admidst all the cheers the flag waving and tears
We sailed off to Galipoli Oh, 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 sloughter
Johnny turk he was waiting, he primed himself well
He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shells
And in 5 minutes flat he blew us all to hell
nearly blew us right back to Australia.

Chorus:

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda" as we stopped to bury our slayn
We buried ours and the turks buried theirs
Than we started all over again

Now for those that we left we tryed to survive in that mad world of blood,death and fire
and for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive but around me the corpses piled higher
Tha a big turkish shell knocked me ass over head
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw, what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying.

Chorus:

For no more I`ll go waltzing Matilda all around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs a man need both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the crippled the wounded the mamed and they shipped us back home to Australia
The Armless, the Legless, the Blind, the Insane
all those proud wounded Heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into circular kay I looked at the place, where my legs used to be
And thanked Christ, there was nobody waiting for me to greeve, to morn and to pitty.

Chorus:

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda" as they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all theyr faces away

And 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, reviving old dreams of passed Glory
And the old men march slöwly, all bond stiff and sore
the tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And theyoung people ask: "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

Chorus:

And the band plays "Waltzing Matilda" And the old men still answer the call
But year after year more old men disappear
Some day no one will march there at all....

...Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who`ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?
And theyr ghosts may be heart, when they march by that billabong:
WHO`LL COME A WALTZING MATILDA WITH ME