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
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
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
And we buried ours and the turks buried theirs
Then
Now those
In
And for
while the corpses around me 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,
Never knew there were worse things than dying<
and> no more I’ll go waltzing matilda
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing matilda for me
So they collected the cripples, the wounded
And they shipped us back home to australia
the legless, the armless the blind and insane
Those proud wounded heroes of suvla
And as 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 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
and they turned all their faces away
And now every april I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me i see my old comrades,
how proudly they march
Reliving the or their dreams of past glory
i see the old men, all twisted and torn
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten wa
And the young people ask me
what are theyMarching for?
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays waltzing matilda
And the old men still answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matildaWho’ll go a-waltzing matilda with me?
6 comments:
holy shit, rose ... one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands ... I am big into the pogues ... a regular pogues listener ... had a copy of Rum Sodomy and the Lash on which this one could be found .... no longer have it ... now must "go online" wait, I am online ... and find it, and or download the song ... do own a number of Pogues CD's ... hopefully, Shane won't kill himself anytime too soon ... but back to the subject at hand ... what a beautifully apropos song these days ...
Love the Pogues. Great Irish group, also used to listen to Brit group The Dead Kennedys.
Reading this gave me goosebumps.
One of the great "war" songs.
The Pogues performed with Shane McGowan on St. Patrick's day in New York. I didn't get to seem them. I have seen them a couple of times, though, once with all my Irish inlaws at the old Ritz. Some guest guitar player came out at one point to play with them. They played London Calling--halfway through, I realized it was Joe Strummer, who, as you probably know, filled in for McGowan after he left.
rory, sent you an email on this. do NOT feel obligated
pinkfem, i never knew they were british. i assumed they were american
vanx, yes it is one of the great war songs. i sent rory an email and i mentioned a documentary on mcgowan. i saw it at my dad's on cable. it was amazing (amazing he is still alive for starters). my friend shawn owns a pub. an irish pub. for the hell of it he looked into booking shane. the agent (who is also prominantly featured in the doc) said, fine. it was something like 2,000 (i don't know if i'm way off or remembering correctly) BUT the stipulation was: shane MAY or MAY NOT show up. if he doesn't you're shite out of luck. no refunds. it is like russian roulette i guess. in this case irish roulette
powerful poetry . . . the pogues are brilliant.
in addition to this song, rick, christmas would NOT be complete (well i celebrate solstice but i do keep christmas with friends and family) without hearing two songs (over and over in my case)
the christians and the pagans by dar williams
and
fairy tale of new york by the pogues
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