---

When I was a young lad I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green banks,
To the dusty outback
While I waltzed my Matilda all over.

Then in 1915, my country said: Son,
Time you stop ramblin',
There's work to be done.
They gave me a tin hat, gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As the ship sailed away from the quay,
Amidst the songs and the cheers,
Flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

It’s well I remember that terrible day
How blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

The big Turkish shell caught me arse over head,
And when I woke up 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
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me

They gathered the injured,
The wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us all back to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.

And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ
There was nobody waiting for me,
To mourn, and to grieve, and to pity.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they wheeled us down the gangway.
And nobody cheered,
They just stood and stared.
And they all turned their faces away.

And the band still plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the young men still answer the call,
But as year follows year,
More young men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard
As they march by that billabong
Who'll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me?

---

Teksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.