The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

    When I was a young man I carried my 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 nineteen fifteen the country said, "Son,
    It´s time to stop rambling, there´s work to be done."
    And 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 our ship pulled away from the quay,
         And amidst all the cheers, 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 waiting, he primed himself well,
    He showered 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,
         As we stopped to bury our slain.
         We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
         Then we started all over again.

    Now 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,
    But around me, the corpses piled higher.
    Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
    And when I woke up in me 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 tent 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 and insane,
    Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
    And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
    I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
    And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
    To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
         But the band played Waltzing Matilda
         As they carried us down the gangway.
         But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
         Then they turned all their faces away.

    And so now every April I sit on my porch
    And I watch the parade pass before me.
    And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
    Reviving old dreams of past glory.
    And the old men marched slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
    They´re tired old heroes 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 still answer the call.
         But as year follows year, more old men disappear,
         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 ?


http://mysongbook.de/mtb/r_clarke/songs/banplayd.htm

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Eric Bogle - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

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

Dubliners Waltzing Matilda : Eric Bogle : Anzacs Gallipoli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2wK-5RxGG4

(and an alternate lyrics, some words different.)

The Pogues - The band played waltzing matilda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqN1glz4JY

What is a "matilda" ?

What do you think "waltzing matilda" means?

it was explained in the descriptions under a youtube video. Native speakers know better.

""Waltzing Matilda" is a very famous Australian folk song and a "Matilda" was the name given to the pack that Australian farm workers carried on their backs.

To "Waltz Matilda" meant to carry your pack of belongings through the bush."

QUESTİON : Why is Gallipoli so important for Australians ?

REPLY       : Though thoroughly defeated in Gallipoli, Australians returned home with a new                     sense of their own national identity, which in itself was a victory towards their                   independence.

http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/download/ryebuck_anzac.pdf

Both correct...Thank you.

I think you owe the members here an example of what the Turkish side was singing at the time. " Çanakkale içinde aynalı çarsi, ana ben gidiyom düşmana karşı....." by Ruhi Su, can be  a good example.

Voluntary 15 years old soldiers went to gallipoli. Most of them never come back.

Great picture Ikicihan. Thanks for reminding us of defending this blessed land [Turkiye] costed so many young lives sadly. This epic war is one of the greatest victory against imperialist powers although tousands of precious lives lost from both sides.

A must see epic poem of  Mehmet Akif Ersoy about Çanakkale Wars, translated by Gokuyum in following link ;

http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_52857