C F C C/Am
When I was a young man I carried my pack
C G C
And I lived the free life of a rover
G/F C C/Am
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback
C G C
I waltzed my Mathilda all over
G F C
Then in nineteen-fifteen my country said «Son
G F C
It’s time to stop rambling ‘cos there’s work to be done»
F C C/Am
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me gun
C G C
And they sent me away to the war
F C
And the band played «Waltzing Mathilda»
G
As we sailed away from the quay
F C F/Am/C
And amidst all the tears flagwaving and cheers
C G C
We sailed off to Gallipoli
How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how nin that hell that we called Souvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets and he rained 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 Mathilda»
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again
Now those that were living well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done Christ I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I’ll go waltzing Mathilda
To the green bushes so far and near
Tor to hump tents and pegs a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Mathilda for me
So they collected the cripples the wounded the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless the legless the blind the insane
Those poor wounded heroes of Souvla
And as our ship pulled into circular quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And I thanked Christ there was no-one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played «Waltzing Mathilda»
As they wheeled us down the gangway
But nobody cheered theyu just stood there and stared
Then they turned all 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
Renewing old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly all bent stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people as «What are they marching for ?»
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays «Waltzing Mathilda»
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Someday no-one will march there at all
C F C
Waltzing Mathilda Waltzing Mathilda
C G
Who’ll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me ?
C G C F
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
G G C
Who’ll come a-waltzing Mathilda with me ?