Now when I was a young man I carried my pack And 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 1915 my country said "Son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done." So 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 the ship pulled away from the quay And amidst all the cheers, flag waving and tears We sailed off for 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 called Souvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter 'Johnny Turk' he was ready, he'd primed himself well He rained us with bullets and he showered us with shell 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 While we stopped to bury our slain We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs Then it 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 ten weary 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 awoke in my 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 For to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs No more waltzing Matilda for me
So, they collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed And shipped us back home to Australia The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane The proud, wounded heroes of Souvla And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thanked Christ there was no one there 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 there and stared Then they turned all their faces away
So 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 old dreams and past glories And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore They're tired old heroes of a forgotten war And the young people ask "What are they marching for?" And I ask myself 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 Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who'll go a'waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong Who'll come a'waltzing Matilda with me?Teksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.
