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[Verse]
GCGEm
Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
GDG
And I lived the free life on the rover
CGEm
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
GDG
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over
DCG
Then in 1915 me country said, Son
DCG
It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done
CGEm
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun
GDG
And they marched me away to the war
[Chorus]
GCG
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
CDDsus4D
As the ship pulled away from the quay
CAmGEm
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
GDGGsus4G
We sailed off for Gallipoli
[Verse]
GCGEm
And how well I remember that terrible day
GDG
How our blood stained the sand and the water
CGEm
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
GDG
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
DCG
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well
DCG
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell
CGEm
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
GDG
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
[Chorus]
GCG
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
CDDsus4D
When we stopped to bury our slain
CAmGEm
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs
GDGGsus4G
Then we started all over again
[Verse]
GCGEm
And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
GDG
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
CGEm
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
GDG
While around me the corpses piled higher
DCG
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
DCG
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
CGEm
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead
GDG
Never knew there was worse things than dying
[Chorus]
GCG
For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda
CDDsus4D
All around the green bush far and free
CAmGEm
To hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
GDGGsus4G
No more Waltzing Matilda for me
[Verse]
GCGEm
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
GDG
And they shipped us back home to Australia
CGEm
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
GDG
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
DCG
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
DCG
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
CGEm
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
GDG
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity
[Chorus]
GCG
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
CDDsus4D
As they carried us down the gangway
CAmGEm
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
GDGGsus4G
Then they turned all their faces away
[Verse]
GCGEm
And so now every April I sit on my porch
GDG
And I watch the parade pass before me
CGEm
And I see my old comrades how proudly they march
GDG
Reviving old dreams of past glory
DCG
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore
DCG
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
CGEm
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
GDG
And I ask meself the same question
[Chorus]
GCG
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda
CDDsus4D
And the old men still answer the call
CAmGEm
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
GDGGsus4G
Someday no one will march there at all
[Verse]
GC
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
GEmAmD
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
GDEmC
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong
GD7G
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?