The Pogues - The band played waltzing matilda

Alec Campbell,the last known survivor of the ANZAC forces at Gallipoli (and the last known survivor of Gallipoli) died on Thursday, May 16, 2002 at the age of 103.

Mr. Campbell enlisted at 16, and served at Gallipoli in 1915. He led Hobart's ANZAC Day parade three weeks prior to his death.
Lyrics:
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
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
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, 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 near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda 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 proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the
• band
• played
• waltzing
• matilda
• pogues
• majorsnag

[tomatoboyau]

TO THE PILLOCK THAT KEEPS FLAGGING JONNO'S COMMENT AS SPAM

I don't why you are trying to sweep the truth under the carpet. IF you had a brain you would realise that however hard you try you can't rewrite history. It's there in the history books and remembered by the families of the English and Irish men killed at Suvla Bay and The Australian and New Zealanders killed at Anzac Cove. What you are doing is an insult to their memories..

Ok Birdbrain you can flag this comment as well now.

[Jonno1955]

It's a lovely song full of good intentions but sadly it's facts are incorrect. The "Heroes of Suvla" were Irish and English troops NOT Australian. The Aussies and New Zealanders were miles away on another beach entirely called Anzac Cove. They were all brave young men regardless but it's disappointing that the bloke who wrote the song got it wrong.

[TheMimifur]

And the band played Walzing Matilda. And now in 2012 I sing this song, and it matters so much that my best friend is dead. I wear a ring for my girl.

[popfromthebarbershop]

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI

[s25007]

"Their memory liveth forever"

[PubelessEWOK]

thumbs up if you cried

[rorybowskill]

What this video lacks is the memorial set up by the turks to those who died there, the most magniminous statement made about any conflict, to read itsw words is to be moved

[MathildeMuseBellamy]

I love this song<3

[Starry1916Plough]

What really matters about that war was that it was an imperialist war. It was fought between contending empires in order to gain dominance and carve up the world and it resources. And guess who were the cannon fodder, thats right the working classes of those empires and the song captures that well. If you forget that and want to argue over detail you'll not see the wood for the trees.

[relivedthis]

What can you say

[Jonno1955]

@30Ciaran

I can read Wikipedia too. I think we all knew that already. If people read the whole Wikipedia article they wouldn't be arguing that the Anzac troops were at Suvla Bay.

[30Ciaran]

@Jonno1955

"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it. This is exemplified in the song by the account of a young Australian soldier who is maimed at the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War.

The song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of "Waltzing Matilda" at its conclusion.