Waltzing my Matilda Eric Bogle G C D G When I was a young man I carried my pack G D C G And I lived the free life of a rover G C D G From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback G D G I waltzed my Matilda all over G D C G Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son G D C G It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done G C D G So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun G D C 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 C And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers G D C G We sailed off for Gallipoli G C D G How well I remember that terrible day G D C G When the blood stained the sand and the water G C D G And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay G D C G We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter G D C G Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well D C G He shot us with bullets, he rained us with shells G C D G And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell G D C 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 C We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs C G D C G And it started all over again G C D G Now those who were living did their best to survive G D C G In that mad world of death, blood and fire G C D G And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive G D C G While the corpses around me piled higher G D C G Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit D C G And when I woke up in my hospital bed G C D G And saw what it had done, Christ I wished I was dead G D C G Never knew there were worse things than dying G C G For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda G C D To the green bushes so far and near D C G C For to hang tent and pegs, a man needs two legs C G D C G No more waltzing Matilda for me G C D G So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed G D C G And they shipped us back home to Australia G C D G The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane G D C G Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla G D C G And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay D C G I looked at the place where my legs used to be G C D G And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me G D C 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 C But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared G D C G Then turned all their faces away G C D G And now every April I sit on my porch G D C G And I watch the parade pass before me G C D G I see my old comrades, how proudly they march G D C G Reliving the dreams of past glory D C G I see the old men, all twisted and torn D C G The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war G C D G And the young people ask me, "What are they marching for?" G D C G And I ask myself the same question G C G And the band plays Waltzing Matilda G C D And the old men still answer the call C G C But year after year their numbers get fewer G D C G Some day no one will march there at all G C Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda G C G D Who'll go a waltzing Matilda with me G D And their ghosts may be heard G C As they march beside the billabong G D G Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me