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