And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (feat. Rose Drucker) [Acoustic]

When I was a young man I carried my pack And I lived the free life of a rover From the Murray's green basin To the dusty outback I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in 1915, 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 sent me away to the war And the band played Waltzing Matilda As we sailed away from the quay And amidst all the cheers The shouts and the tears We sailed off for Gallipoli How well I remember that terrible day When the blood stained the sand and the water And how in the hell that they called Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter Johnny Turk, he was ready He'd primed himself well He showered us with bullets And he rained us with shells And in five minutes flat He'd blown us all to hell Nearly blew us right back To Australia And 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 who were living Did their best to survive In that mad world of guts, blood, and fire For seven long weeks I kept myself alive As the corpses around me Piled higher Then a big Turkish shell Knocked me ass over tits And when I awoke In my hospital bed And saw what it had done Christ, I wished I was dead I never knew there was worse things Than dying And no more I'll go waltzing Matilda To the green bushes, so far and near For to hang tent and pegs, a man needs two legs No more waltzing Matilda for me So they collected the crippled The wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The legless, the armless The blind and the 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 thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve, or to mourn, or to pity And 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 Now every April, I sit on my porch And I watch the parades pass before me I see my old comrades How proudly they march Reliving the dreams of past glories I see the old men, all crippled and worn The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war And the young people ask me What are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question But the band plays Waltzing Matilda And the old men still answer the call But year after year Their numbers get fewer Someday no one will march there at all Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who will come waltzing Matilda with me