Текст песни John Mcdermott - And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
John Mcdermott - And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda слова песни
Now when I was a young man and I carried my packAnd I lived the free life of the roverFrom the murrays green basin to the dusty out backI waltzed my matilda all over.Then in 1915 my country said "sonIts time to stop rambling, theres work to be done"And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gunAnd they sent me away to the war.And the band played waltzing matildaAs the ships pulled away from the quayAnd amid all the tears, flag waving and cheersWe sailed off to galipolliAnd how I remember that terrible dayHow our blood stained the sand and the waterAnd how in that hell that they called suvla bayWe were butchered like lambs to the slaughter.Johnnie turk was ready, oh he primed himself wellHe rained us with bullets and he showered us with shellAnd in five minutes flat we were all blown to hellNearly blew us all back home to australia.But the band played waltzing matildaAs we stuck to bury our slainWe burned ours and the turks buried theirsAnd we started all over againThose who were living just tried to surviveIn a mad world of blood death and fireAnd for ten weary weeks, I kept myself aliveWhile around me the corpses piled higherThen a big turkish shell knocked me arse over headAnd when I awoke in my hospital bedAnd saw what it had done and I wished I was deadNever knew there were worse things than dyingFor no more Ill go waltzing matildaAll round the green bush far and nearFor to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legsNo more waltzing matilda for me.They collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimedAnd they shipped us back home to australiaThe armless, the legless, the blind, the insaneThose proud wounded heroes of suvlaAnd as our ship pulled in to circular keyAnd I looked at the place where my legs used to beI thanked christ there was no one there waiting for meTo grieve and to mourn and to pityAnd the band played waltzing matildaAs they carried us down the gangwayBut nobody cheered, they just stood there and staredAnd turned all their faces awaySo now every april, I sit on my porchAnd I watch the parade pass before meAnd I see my old comrades, how proudly they marchRenewing their dreams of past gloryI see the old men all tired, stiff and soreThe weary old heroes of a forgotten warAnd the young people ask "what are they marching for? "And I ask myself the same questionAnd the band played waltzing matildaAnd the old men still answer the callBut year after year, the numbers get fewerSome day none will march there at allWaltzing matilda, waltzing matildaWholl come a waltzing matilda with meAnd their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabongWholl come a waltzing matilda with me.