THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA
Eric Bogle
[ C] When I was a [F] young man I [C] carried
a [Am] pack
and I [ C] lived the
free [G7] life of a [C] rover.
From the [ C] Murray's
green [F] basin to the [C]
dusty [Am] outback
I [ C] waltzed my [G7] Matilda all [C] over.
Then in [ G7] nineteen
fifteen my [F] country said [C] "son,
There's no [ G7] time
for rovin' there's [F] work to be [G7] done!"
And they [ C] gave me
a [F] tin hat and [C]
gave me a [Am] gun
And they [ C] sent me
[G7] away to the [C] war.
And the [ C] band played
[F] Waltzing [C] Matilda,
As the ship pulled away from the [ Dm] quay,
And [ G7] amidst all
the [F] cheers, the flag [C]
waving and [Am] tears,
We [ C] sailed off for
[G7] Gallipo-[C]-li
[ C] How well I [F] remember that [C] terrible
[Am] day,
How our [ C] blood stained
the [G7] sand and the [C] water
And [ C] how in that
[F] hell that they [C]
called Suvla [Am] Bay,
We were [ C] butchered
like [G7] lambs at the [C] slaughter
Johhny [ G7] Turk he
was waiting, he'd [F] primed himself [C] well.
He [ G7] showered us
with bullets, and [F] rained us with [G7] shell,
And in [ C] five minutes
[F] flat, he'd [C]
blown us to [Am] hell.
Nearly [ C] blew us
right [G7] back to Aus-[C]-tralia
And the [ C] Band Played
[F] Waltzing [C] Matilda,
As we stopped to bury the [ Dm] slain
[ C] We buried [F] ours and the [C] Turks buried
[Am] theirs,
Then we [ C] started
all [G7] over [C] again
[ C] They collected
the [F] crippled, the [C]
wounded and [Am] maimed,
And they [ C] shipped
us back [G7] home to [C] Australia
[ C] The armless the
[F] legless, the [C]
blind and [Am] insane,
All the [ C] brave wounded
[G7] heroes of [C] Suvla
And [ G7] when our ship
pulled in to [F] Circular [C] Quay,
[ G7] I looked at the
place where my [F] legs used to [G7] be,
And thanked [ C] Christ
there was [F] nobody [C]
waiting for [Am] me
To [ C] grieve, to [G7] mourn and to [C] pity.
And the [ C] band played
[F] Waltzing [C] Matilda,
As they carried us down the gang-[ Dm]-way,
But [ C] nobody [F] cheered, they [C] just stood
and [Am] stared
And they [ C] turned
all their [G7] faces [C] away.
And so [ C] now every
[F] April I [C]
sit on my [Am] porch,
And I [ C] watch the
[G7] parade pass [C] before me,
And I [ C] see my old
[F] comrades how [C]
proudly they [Am] march,
[ C] Reviving old [G7] dreams and past [C] glories,
But the [ G7] old men
march slowly their [F] bones stiff and [C] sore,
[ G7] Tired old men
from a [F] tired old [G7] war,
And the [ C] young people
[F] ask what are [C]
they marching [Am] for,
And [ C] I ask my-[G7]-self the same [C] question.
But the [ C] band played
[F] Waltzing [C] Matilda
And the old men still answer the [ Dm] call,
But [ C] year after
[F] year more old [C]
men disap-[Am]-pear
Someday [ C] no one
will [G7] march there at [C] all.
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