War in Gallipoli, where Brits tried to run over the Turks, risking lives of Aussies. Kiwis and Indians, was a terrible experience for all.

Here is an ANZAC ballad to remind us all, that wars should be avoided. (note: also to be avoided are the Brits).

Wishful thinking!  War repeats itself. Man is basically an animal.

 Your link doesn´t work - or is that just because I´m a Brit??

The link does work for me......

If the link does not work try the old copy&paste trick or find the ballad yourself in Youtube.

The ballad is called "Waltzing Matilda". There are different singers for this song, but my favorite is Liam Clancy.

Does anyone here know what a "matilda"  is ?

AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

Now when I was a young man I carried a pack
and I lived the free life of a rover,
From the Murray´s green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my matilda all over:
Then in nineteen fifteen the country said:
"Son, it´s time you stopped roving,
there´s work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun,
And sent me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda"
as the ship pulled away from the quay,
And ´midst the tears, the flag waving and cheers
we sailed off to Gallipoli.

How well I remember that terrible day,
How the blood stained the sand and the water,
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs to the slaughter;
Johhny Turk he was waiting,
he´d primed himself well,
He rained us with bullets and showered us with shells,
And in ten 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 the slain,
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 death, blood and fire,
And for nearly ten 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
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 wild bush far and free,
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more waltzing Matilda for me.

Then they gathered the sick and the crippled and maimed,
And sent us back home to Australia,
The armless, the legless, the blind and insane,
The brave wounded heroes of Suvla;
And when our ship pulled in to Circular Quay,
I looked at the stumps where my legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody 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 there and stared,
Then they turned their faces away.

So every April my old comrades march,
Reviving old dreams and past glory,
And I push my wheelchair out onto the porch,
And watch the parade pass before me;
The old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore,
Tired old men from a forgotten war,
The young people ask: "What are they marching for?"
I ask myself the same question.

And the band plays "Waltzing Matilda",
The old men respond to the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear,
Someday no-one will march there at all.

(Eric BOGLE)

Hi,

Matilda is a girl´s name, but it was also a sort of nick-name given to a swag (which is like a back-pack for your belongings that you take with you.)

To go "waltz with Matilda" was a very old Australian expression, that meant going on the road with your swag. This was used by workers who drifted wherever the work took them, either droving (shepherding) sheep or cattle, or shearing wool,  etc in Australia.

I hope this makes sense to you. 

and we also know "Swag" to be a bag of stolen goods!  The burgler put the stolen items in a "swag bag"..............

But Henry, great description and it makes perfect sense!

Very interesting Henry...thanks for posting.  The whole song makes a lot more sense now.  So sad though, when will we ever learn?

I was a bit dubious about the original posts from Alpha and then the lyrics he posted have been puzzling over it.  I always remember Rolf Harris singing Waltzing Matilda, and it was nothing to do with Gallipoli, more to do with bush men. 

So here is a site all about it.

http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Origins.html 

The lyrics that Alpha has posted.............. well where did he get them from??? Alpha own up!

The song Alpha posted is not a version of ´Waltzing Matilda´ - it´s a song dedicated to the Australian soldiers who died at Gallipoli that contains the lines ´and the band played Waltzing Matilda´ - and Alpha gave the link to the song in his original post.

Another to link to another version of the same song is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI

The lyrics is from a song called "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", performed by Liam Clancy of the Aussie band named "Clancy Brothers". It can easily be found in YouTube.

My Aussie friends tell me it is a very popular ballad in Australia; so popular that some Aussies  would like to see it replace their existing national anthem.

It is extremely stupid, even,  to suggest that I may have faked it.  An apology will be in order.

Sorry Alpha - I posted mine before yours but had to edit it because the text came out so small. 

The reason this ballad is so popular in Australia is probably because it reminds them of old days when the Brits found it easier to treat Aussies, Kiwis and like as old "matilda"s.

Aussies and Kiwis are proud, independent and sovereign nations now and I hope they are much wiser. Many Western sources write that the awakening of this feeling of national identity in both nations  follow their experiences in Gallipoli and is largely derived from the lessons they learned there.

 You need not apologize. What you wrote  was probably correct...

 Hmmm....just exactly how independant are they?  Isn´t Elizabeth II still Queen of Australia?

 If you ask her, she is the Queen of America as well....

 No, I was a little confused - thanks, that has squared things up for me!  I couldn´t see the other link, same as you, so I assumed it was a version of Waltzing Matilda

´Waltzing Matilda´ was the well known song a lot of Australians wanted as their national anthem years ago, not the anti-war ballad ´The band played watzing matilda´.  This was when we wanted to replace the British ´God save our Queen´ with our own new anthem.

Most Australians recognize the futility of war, and many thousands visit Turkey, and the Gallipoli area each year to pay their respects. They can then understand better the geography and the history of this disasterous World War 1 battle. Many Australians also learn for the first time about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his exploits, after visiting the battlefields.

In an unusual way, this common history has brought about a stronger relationship between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. 

 Well I do apologise unreservedly!