Biography:
Scotland's greatest living Australian. Or the other way around, depending on how you look at it.
Born in Peebles, Scotland, and emigrating to Australia in 1969, he currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia. Written in 1972, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is perhaps his best-known song, being a haunting evocation of the ANZAC experience fighting in the Battle of Gallipoli. It has also been interpreted as a reaction to the Vietnam War.
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Other songs:
- And The Band Played "waltzing Matilda"
- Across The Hills Of Home
- And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
- And The Band Played Waltzing Matlida
- Ballad Of Henry Holloway
- Bloody Rotten Audience
- Dedication Day
- Front Row Cowboy
- Green Fields Of France
- Leaving Nancy
- No Mans Land
- Now Im Easy
- Safe In The Harbour
- Scraps Of Paper
- The Blessing
Four years of hard work!This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!
G C G Em
When I was a young man I carried my pack
G D G
And I lived the free life of a rover
G C G Em
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 son
D C G
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be Done
G C G Em
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
G D G
And they sent me away to the war
[Chorus]
G C G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
C D Dsus4 D
As the ship pulled away from the quay
C Am G Em
And amidst all the tears and the flag-waving and cheers
G D G Gsus4 G
We sailed off to Gallipoli
G C G Em
How well I remember that terrible day
G D G
When our blood stained the sand and the water
G C G Em
And how in that hell 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 rained us with bullets he showered us with shells
G C G Em
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
G D G
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
[Chorus]
G C G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
C D Dsus4 D
As we stopped to bury our slain
C Am G Em
we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
G D G Gsus4 G
Then we started all over again
G C G Em
Now those who were left well we tried to survive
G D G
In that mad world of blood death and fire
G C G Em
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
G D G
While the corpses around me piled higher
D C G
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
D C G
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
G C G Em
I saw what it had done Christ I wished I was dead
G D G
Never knew there were worse things than dying
[Chorus]
G C G
So I'll go no more waltzing Matilda
C D Dsus4 D
All around the green bush near and far
C Am G Em
For to hump tent and pegs a man needs two legs
G D G Gsus4 G
No more waltzing Matilda for me
G C G Em
So they Gathered the wounded the crippled the maimed
G D G
And they shipped us back home to Australia
G C G Em
The legless the armless the blind and insane
G D G
Those proud wounded heroes of suvla
D C G
And when the ship pulled into circular quay
D C G
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
G C G Em
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
G C G
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
[Chorus]
G C G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
C D Dsus4 D
As they carried us down the gangway
C Am G Em
But nobody cheered they just stood and stared
G D G Gsus4 G
And they turned all their faces away
G C G Em
And now every April I sit on my porch
G D G
And I watch the parade pass before me
G C G Em
I see my old comrades how proudly they march
G D G
Reliving the or their dreams of past glory
D C G
The old men march slowly old bones stiff and sore
D C G
The tired old heroes of a forgotten war
G C G Em
And the young people ask what are they Marching for
G D G
And I ask myself the same question
[Chorus]
G C G
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
C D Dsus4 D
And the old men still answer to the call
C Am G Em
But year after year more old men disappear
G D G Gsus4 G
Some day no one will march there at all
G C
Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
G D
Who'll go a-Waltzing Matilda with me
G D Em C
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the Billabong
C G D7 G
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me
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