When I was a y oung man I c arried my pack
And I l ived the free l ife of a r over
From the M urrays green b asin to the d usty outb ack
I w altzed my Mat ilda all over
Then in n ineteen fifteen my co untry said: "Son,
It's t ime to stop rambling cos there's w ork to be d one"
So they g ave me a t in hat and they g ave me a gun
And they s ent me a way to the war
And the b and played W altzing Mat ilda
As we sailed aw ay from the qu ay
And am idst all the tears and the sh outs and the cheers
We s ailed off to G allipol i
H ow well I rem ember that t errible day
When the bl ood stained the s and and the w ater
And w hen in that t own that they c alled Suvla B ay
We were b utchered like l ambs at the sl aughter
Johnny T urk he was ready, he pri med himself w ell
He chase d us with bullets, he ra ined us with sh ells
And in f ive minutes fl at he'd bl own us all to hell
Ne arly blew us right b ack to Austr alia
And the b and played W altzing Mat ilda
As we st opped to b ury our sl ain
And we b uried ours and the T urks buried theirs
Then we st arted all over ag ain
Now th ose that were l iving did their b est to survive
In a m ad world of bl ood, death and f ire,
And, for s even long we eks, I k ept myself al ive
But the c orpses aro und me piled h igher
Then a b ig Turkish shell knocked me a rse over t it
And wh en I awoke in my h ospital b ed
I saw wha t it had do ne. Christ ! I w ished I was dead
Never k new there were w orse things than dy ing
For I'l l go no more w altzing Mat ilda
All around the gr een bush f ar and n ear
For to h ump tent and pegs, a m an needs both legs
No more W altzing Mat ilda for m e
So they colle cted the cr ipples, the woun ded, the maimed,
And they sh ipped us back h ome to Austr alia
The l egless, the a rmless, the bl ind, the ins ane,
Those pr oud wounded h eroes of Suv la
And a s our ship pulled into C ircular B ay
I lo oked at the place my l egs used to be
And thank Ch rist there was no one w aiting for me
To gr ieve and to mo urn and to p ity
And the b and played W altzing Mat ilda
As they c arried us d own the gangw ay
But n obody cheered, they just st ood and stared
Then they tu rned all their f aces aw ay
And n ow every A pril I s it on my porch
And I w atch the par ade pass bef ore me
I s ee my old c omrades, how p roudly they m arch,
Renew ing old dr eams of past gl ory
I s ee the old men march slowly, all bent, s tiff and s ore
The f orgotten heroes from a f orgotten w ar
And the yo ung people as k: "what are the y marching for ?"
And I ask mys elf the same qu estion
And the b and played W altzing Mat ilda
And the o ld men still a nswer to the c all
But y ear after year their n umber gets fewer
Some day no one will m arch there at all
W altzing Matilda, W altzing Matilda
Wh o'll come a-waltzing Matilda with m e
![The Band Played Waltzing Matilda [Explicit] (The Pogues)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/5105CqTTqAL._SL240_.jpg)
