Joan Baez - And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda lyrics
[Joan Baez - And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda lyrics]
Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
Then in 1915, my country said, 'Son
It's time you stop ramblin'
There's work to be done'
So they gave me a tin hat
And they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war
And the band played 'Waltzing Matilda, '
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving
And tears we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell
That they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Then a big Turkish shell knocked
Me arse over head
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well
I wished I was dead
Never knew there was worse things than dying
For I'll go no more 'Waltzing Matilda, '
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more 'Waltzing Matilda' for me
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded
The maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind
The insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where
Me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was
Nobody waiting for me
To mourn grieve and the pity
And the band plays 'Waltzing Matilda, '
And the young men still answer the call
But as year follows year
More young men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all
"Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me?"
And their ghosts may be heard
As you pass the Billabong
"Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me?"
And I lived the free life of the rover
Then in 1915, my country said, 'Son
It's time you stop ramblin'
There's work to be done'
So they gave me a tin hat
And they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war
And the band played 'Waltzing Matilda, '
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving
And tears we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell
That they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Then a big Turkish shell knocked
Me arse over head
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well
I wished I was dead
Never knew there was worse things than dying
For I'll go no more 'Waltzing Matilda, '
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more 'Waltzing Matilda' for me
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded
The maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind
The insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where
Me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was
Nobody waiting for me
To mourn grieve and the pity
And the band plays 'Waltzing Matilda, '
And the young men still answer the call
But as year follows year
More young men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all
"Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me?"
And their ghosts may be heard
As you pass the Billabong
"Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me?"