Allan Gardner The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Lyrics

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
While I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen-fifteen my country said, Son
It's time you stopped rambling there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As the ship pulled away from the quay
Amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
We sailed off to Gallipoli

And how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs to the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He showered 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
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

And those that were left, well we tried to survive
In that 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 a___ over head
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they gathered the cripples, the wounded and maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind and insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, to mourn and to pity
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on me porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I see me old comrades, how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams and past glories
And the old men march slowly, all bone stiff and sore
The tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Some day no one will march there at all