June Tabor - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda lyrics

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin
To the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915, the 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 sent me away to the war

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda, "
As our ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving
And tears we sailed off to 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
Johnny Turk, he was ready
He primed himself well
He chased us with bullets
And he rained us with shell -

And in five minutes flat
He'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda, "
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well, we buried ours
And the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

And those that were left, well
We tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher
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
And 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 near -
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me
So they collected the cripples the wounded
And maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, 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 no-one
There waiting for me
To grieve, to mourn and to pity

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda, "
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered
They just stood and stared
And they turned all their faces away

And now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades
How proudly they march
Renewing old dreams and past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent
Stiff and sore
They're tired old men from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What
Are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda, "
And the old men answer the call
But as year by year, the numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as
They march by the billabong
Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?