John Williamson
And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Ukulele Chords
C F C
Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
G C
And I lived the free life of the rover.
C F C
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
G C
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
D C
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
D C
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
F C
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
G C
And they marched me away to the war.
F C
And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
F G
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
F C
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
G C
We sailed off for Gallipoli.
F C
And how well I remember that terrible day,
G C
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
F C
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
G C
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
D C
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
D C
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell –
F C
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
G C
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
F C
But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
F G
When we stopped to bury our slain,
F C
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
G C
Then we started all over again.
F C
And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
G C
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
F C
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
G C
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
D C
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
D C
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
F C
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead –
G C
Never knew there was worse things than dying.
F C
For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
F G
All around the green bush far and free –
F C
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
G C
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.
F C
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
G C
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
F C
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
G C
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
D C
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
D C
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
F C
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
G C
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.
C F C
But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
F G
As they carried us down the gangway,
F C
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
G C
Then they turned all their faces away.
F C
And so now every April, I sit on my porch
G C
And I watch the parade pass before me.
F C
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
G C
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
D C
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
D C
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
F C
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
G C
And I ask meself the same question.
F C
But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
F G
And the old men still answer the call,
F C
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
G C
Someday, no one will march there at all.
C F
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
C F C G
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
C G C F
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
C F G C
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
