And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Lyrics - Rum Sodomy & The Lash - Pogues

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 'cause 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 for gallipoli 

How well I remember that terrible day 

when the blood stained the sand and the water 

And how in that hell that they called suvla bay 

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter 

Johnny turk he was ready, he primed himself well 

He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with 

Shells 

And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell 

Nearly blew us right back to Australia 

And the band played waltzing matilda 

As we stopped to bury our slain 

And we buried ours and the turks buried theirs 

Then it started all over again 

Now those who were living did their best to survive 

In that mad world of dust, blood and fire 

And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive 

while the corpses around me piled higher 

Then a big turkish shell knocked me arse over tit 

And when I awoke in my hospital bed 

And saw what they had done, christ I wished I was 

Dead 

Never knew there were worse things than dying 

and no more I'll go waltzing matilda 

to the green bushes so far and near 

For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two 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 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 thank christ there was nobody 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 

and they turned their faces away 

And now every april I sit on my porch 

And I watch the parade pass before me 

I see my old comrades, how proudly they march 

Reliving their dreams of past glory 

I see the old men, all twisted and torn 

The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war 

And the young people ask me, who are the they 

Marching for? 

And I ask myself the same question 

And the band plays waltzing matilda 

And the old men still answer 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 go a-waltzing matilda with me?