When I was a young man I carried my pack

And I lived the free life of a rover

From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback

I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in nineteen fifteen my country said son

It's time to stop rambling cos 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 we sailed away from the quay

And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers

We sailed off to Galipoli



How well I remember that terrible day

How the blood stained the sand and the water

And how in that town that they called Sulva bay

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready he primed himself well

He chased us with bullets he rained us with shells

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

As we stopped to bury our slain

We buried our and the Turks buried theirs

Then we started all over again



Now those who were left well we tried to survive

In a mad world of blood death and fire

And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive

But around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit

And I woke up in my hospital bed

I saw what it had done and I wished I was dead

Never knew there were worse things than dying



For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda

All around the green bush far and near

For to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs

No more Waltzing Matilda for me



So the collected the cripples 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 pulled into Circular Quay

I looked at the place my legs used to be

And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me

To grieve and 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

Then 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 of past glory

And the old men march slowly all bent stiff and sore

The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war

And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"

And I ask myself the same question



And the band played Waltzing Matilda

And the old men answer to the call

But year after year their numbers get fewer

Some day 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 you pass the Billabong

Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me



(Eric Bogle