The band played "Waltzing Matilda"
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C G Em
1. When I was a young man I carried my pack,
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and
I lived the free life of a rover.
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From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
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I
waltzed my Matilda all over.
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Then in nineteen fifteen me country said, 'Son,
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it's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done.'
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So
they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun,
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and
they sent me away to the war.
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C G
And the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
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when the ship pulled away from the quay.
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And amid all the tears, flag waving and
cheers,
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we sailed off for Galipoli.
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2. Oh it's well I remember that terrible day,
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when our blood stained the sand and the water.
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G Em
And
how in that hell they called Suvla Bay
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we
were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
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Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
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he
rained us with bullets and he showered us with shell.
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Em
And
in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell,
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he
nearly blew us back home to Australia.
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And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
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when we stopped to bury our slain.
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While we buried ours and the Turks buried
theirs,
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then it started all over again.
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3. Oh, those that were living just tried to
survive,
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in
that mad world of blood, death and fire.
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And
for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
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when around me the corpses piled higher.
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Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
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G
and
when I awoke in me hospital bed,
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Em
and
saw what it had done, I wished I was dead,
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I
never knew there was worse things than dying.
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For no more I'll go 'Waltzing Matilda',
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all around the green bush, far and near.
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For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both
legs,
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no more 'Waltzing Matilda' for me.
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4. They collected the
wounded, the crippled, the maimed,
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and they shipped us back home to
Australia.
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The armless, the legless, the blind and
the insane,
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those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
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And when the ship pulled into Circular
Quay,
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I looked at the place where me leg used to
be.
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And thanked Christ, there was no one a
waiting for me,
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to grieve, and to mourn, and to pity.
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C G
And the band played
'Waltzing Matilda',
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while they carried us
down the gangway.
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Oh, nobody cheered,
they just stood there and stared,
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then they turned all
those faces away.
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G Em
5. So now every April I sit on my porch,
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and
I watch the parade pass before me.
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I
see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
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renewing the dreams of past glory.
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I
see the old men, all tired, stiff and worn,
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those weary old heroes of a forgotten war.
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And
the young people ask 'What are they marching for?'
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and
I ask myself the same question.
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G
And the band plays
'Waltzing Matilda',
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and the old men still
answer the call.
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But year after year
their number'll get fewer,
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D G
some day no one will
march there at all.
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Waltzing matilda', waltzing matilda,
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Em Am D
who'll come a-waltzing matilda with me ?
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C Am
And
their ghosts may be heard as they march by the Billabong,
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Em D G
oh,
who'll come a-waltzing matilda with me?
(Dubliners)