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The Band Played Waltzing Matilda chords by The Pogues

Chords with lyrics

from the album "Rum Sodomy & The Lash"

An alteration of a version by Eric Bogle. This version should match the
arpeggiated chords the banjo plays in the album version of "The Band Played
Waltzing Matilda" by The Pogues.

Waltzing Matilda - as perfomed by The Pogues

Intro: Chord diagramA augmentedA Chord diagramA augmentedA Chord diagramA augmentedA
             Chord diagramD MajorD            Chord diagramA augmentedA
When I was a young man, I carried my pack.
                     Chord diagramE MajorE          Chord diagramA augmentedA
And I lived the free life, of a rover.
                         Chord diagramE MajorE
>From the Murray's green basin,
       Chord diagramD MajorD     Chord diagramA augmentedA
To the dusty outback,
             Chord diagramE MajorE           Chord diagramA augmentedA
I waltzed my matilda all over.
        Chord diagramE MajorE        Chord diagramD MajorD            Chord diagramA augmentedA
Then in 1915, my country said "son"
       Chord diagramE MajorE
"It's time to stop rambling,"
             Chord diagramD MajorD	        Chord diagramA augmentedA
"Cos there's work to be done."
                  Chord diagramD MajorD
So they gave me a tin hat,
         Chord diagramA augmentedA
And they gave me a gun,
                 Chord diagramE MajorE            Chord diagramA augmentedA
And they sent me away to the war.
                    Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
             Chord diagramD MajorD             Chord diagramE MajorE
As we sailed away from the quay.
    Chord diagramD MajorD
And amidst all the tears,
         Chord diagramA augmentedA
And the shouts and the cheers,
                  Chord diagramE MajorE      Chord diagramA augmentedA
We sailed off for Galipoli


           Chord diagramD MajorD             Chord diagramA augmentedA
How well I remember that terrible day,
                           Chord diagramE MajorE            Chord diagramA augmentedA
when the blood stained the sand and the water.
                Chord diagramE MajorE
And how in that hell
          Chord diagramD MajorD		Chord diagramA augmentedA
that they called Souvla Bay
                       Chord diagramE MajorE            Chord diagramA augmentedA
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
       Chord diagramE MajorE                     	Chord diagramD MajorD	       Chord diagramA augmentedA
Johnny Turk, he was ready, He'd primed himself well.
   Chord diagramE MajorE
He showered us with bullets,
       Chord diagramD MajorD	      Chord diagramA augmentedA
And he rained us with shells.
                    Chord diagramD MajorD
And in five minutes flat,
           Chord diagramA augmentedA
he'd blown us all to hell.
                     Chord diagramE MajorE       Chord diagramA augmentedA
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

                    Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
                          Chord diagramE MajorE
As we stopped to bury our slain.
    Chord diagramD MajorD
And we buried ours
        Chord diagramA augmentedA
and the Turks buried theirs,
                   Chord diagramE MajorE    Chord diagramA augmentedA
And it started all over again.

                   Chord diagramD MajorD                 Chord diagramA augmentedA
Now those who were living, Did their best to survive,
                     Chord diagramE MajorE                Chord diagramA augmentedA
In that mad world of guts, blood, and fire.
                   Chord diagramE MajorE
And for seven long weeks,
  Chord diagramD MajorD	      Chord diagramA augmentedA
I kept myself alive,
                 Chord diagramE MajorE             Chord diagramA augmentedA
As the corpses around me piled higher.
       Chord diagramE MajorE                             Chord diagramD MajorD         Chord diagramA augmentedA
Then a big Turkish shell, Knocked me arse over tit.
    Chord diagramE MajorE
And when I awoke
        Chord diagramD MajorD      Chord diagramA augmentedA
in my hospital bed,
                    Chord diagramD MajorD
And saw what it had done,
         Chord diagramA augmentedA
Christ I wished I was dead.
                      Chord diagramE MajorE                 Chord diagramA augmentedA
Never knew there were worse things than dying.

                    Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda,
                               Chord diagramE MajorE
To the green bushes so far and near.
       Chord diagramD MajorD
For to hang tent and pegs
  Chord diagramA augmentedA
Chord diagramA augmentedA man needs two legs.
                    Chord diagramE MajorE        Chord diagramA augmentedA
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.

                      Chord diagramD MajorD             Chord diagramA augmentedA
So they collected the crippled, The wounded and maimed,
                         Chord diagramE MajorE       Chord diagramA augmentedA
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
                 Chord diagramE MajorE
The legless, the armless,
    Chord diagramD MajorD		Chord diagramA augmentedA
the blind and insane.
                    Chord diagramE MajorE         Chord diagramA augmentedA
Those proud wounded heroes of Souvla
    Chord diagramE MajorE                       Chord diagramD MajorD	     Chord diagramA augmentedA
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
  Chord diagramE MajorE
I looked at the place
          Chord diagramD MajorD	      Chord diagramA augmentedA
where my legs used to be.
                            Chord diagramD MajorD
And thank Christ, there was nobody
Chord diagramA augmentedA
waiting for me,
                 Chord diagramE MajorE            Chord diagramA augmentedA
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.

                    Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
                                Chord diagramE MajorE
As they carried us down the gangway.
    Chord diagramD MajorD
But nobody cheered,
     Chord diagramA augmentedA
They just stood and stared,
                      Chord diagramE MajorE     Chord diagramA augmentedA
And they turned their faces away.

              Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And now every April, I sit on my porch,
                Chord diagramE MajorE            Chord diagramA augmentedA
And I watch the parades pass before me.
             Chord diagramE MajorE
I see my old comrades,
    Chord diagramD MajorD	         Chord diagramA augmentedA
How proudly they march.
             Chord diagramE MajorE              Chord diagramA augmentedA
Reliving the dreams of past glory.
  Chord diagramE MajorE                     Chord diagramD MajorD          Chord diagramA augmentedA
I see the old men, all twisted and torn.
    Chord diagramE MajorE
The forgotten heroes
     Chord diagramD MajorD         Chord diagramA augmentedA
of a forgotten war.
                     Chord diagramD MajorD
And the young people ask me,
         Chord diagramA augmentedA
What are they marching for?
               Chord diagramE MajorE           Chord diagramA augmentedA
And I ask my self the same question.

                   Chord diagramD MajorD        Chord diagramA augmentedA
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
                                 Chord diagramE MajorE
And the old men still answer the call.
    Chord diagramD MajorD
But year after year,
      Chord diagramA augmentedA
Their numbers get fewer,
                    Chord diagramE MajorE              Chord diagramA augmentedA
Someday no-one will march there at all.

Chord diagramA augmentedA                 Chord diagramD MajorD
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Chord diagramA augmentedA                                   Chord diagramE MajorE
Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?

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