And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

G            C           D          G
When I was a young man I carried my pack
G                    D         C     G
And I lived the free life of a rover
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From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
G               D         G
I waltzed my Matilda all over
G       D                   C            G
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
G    D                                    C          G
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
G                 C                D         G
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
G                D           C    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              C
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
   G              D      C   G
We sailed off for Gallipoli

G          C             D        G
How well I remember that terrible day
G                          D            C     G
When the blood stained the sand and the water
G               C               D           G
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
G                      D            C         G
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
G      D                     C              G
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
   D                        C              G
He shot us with bullets, he rained us with shells
G                   C                  D       G
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
G                    D       C         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            C
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
C      G           D    C    G
And it started all over again
G                  C                D       G
Now those who were living did their best to survive
G                    D                C   G
In that mad world of death, blood and fire
G                  C            D       G
And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive
 G                 D              C      G
While the corpses around me piled higher
G          D                        C         G
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
    D                    C        G
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
G                   C              D            G
And saw what it had done, Christ I wished I was dead
G                      D                C     G
Never knew there were worse things than dying
G                   C        G
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
G                   C          D
To the green bushes so far and near
D      C                     G             C
For to hang tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
C       G        D           C   G
No more waltzing Matilda for me
G                      C            D            G
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
G                        D       C          G
And they shipped us back home to Australia
G            C            D                G
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
G                   D         C     G
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
G          D                C        G
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
  D                            C            G
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
G                          C       D          G
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
G                D            C    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         C
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
     G                D      C   G
Then turned all their faces away
G             C       D         G
And now every April I sit on my porch
G               D           C         G
And I watch the parade pass before me
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I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
G            D              C      G
Reliving the dreams of past glory
  D                    C           G
I see the old men, all twisted and torn
    D                     C         G
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war
G                    C                 D             G
And the young people ask me, "What are they marching for?"
G         D               C         G
And I ask myself the same question
G                  C        G
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
G                     C          D
And the old men still answer the call
    C                     G           C
But year after year their numbers get fewer
         G           D              C    G
Some day no one will march there at all
G                 C
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
G            C       G            D
Who'll go a waltzing Matilda with me
          G             D
And their ghosts may be heard
        G                C
As they march beside the billabong
G                      D            G
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me