The Band Played Waltzing Matilda G C G When I was a young man I carried my pack G D G And I lived the free life of a rover G D C G From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback G D G I waltzed my Matilda all over D C G Then in nineteen fifteen my country said oeSon, D C G Itoes time to stop rambling cos thereoes work to be doneoe G C G So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun G D G And they sent me away to the war G C G And the band played Waltzing Matilda G C D As we sailed away from the quay C G And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers G D G We sailed off to Gallipoli G C G How well I remember that terrible day G D G When the blood stained the sand and the water G D C G And when in that town that they called Suvla Bay G D G We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter D C G Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well D C G He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells G C G And in five minutes flat heoed blown us all to hell G D G Nearly blew us right back to Australia G C G And the band played Waltzing Matilda G C D As we stopped to bury our slain C G And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs G D G Then we started all over again G C G Now those that were living did their best to survive G D G In a mad world of blood, death and fire, G D C G And, for seven long weeks, I kept myself alive G D G But the corpses around me piled higher D C G Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit D C G And when I awoke in my hospital bed G C G I saw what it had done. Christ ! I wished I was dead G D G Never knew there were worse things than dying G C G For Ioell go no more waltzing Matilda G C D All around the green bush far and near C G For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs G D G No more Waltzing Matilda for me G C G So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed, G D G And they shipped us back home to Australia G D C G The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, G D G Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla D C G And as our ship pulled into Circular Bay D C G I looked at the place my legs used to be G C G And thank Christ there was no one waiting for me G D G To grieve and to mourn and to pity G C G And the band played Waltzing Matilda G C D As they carried us down the gangway C G But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared G D G Then they turned all their faces away G C G And now every April I sit on my porch G D G And I watch the parade pass before me G D C G I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, G D G Renewing old dreams of past glory D C G I see the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore D C G The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war G C G And the young people ask oewhat are they marching for ?oe G D G And I ask myself the same question G C G And the band played Waltzing Matilda G C D And the old men still answer to the call C G But year after year their number gets fewer G D G Some day no one will march there at all G C Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda G D Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me