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: A augmentedA A augmentedA A augmentedA
D MajorD A augmentedA
When I was a young man, I carried my pack.
E MajorE A augmentedA
And I lived the free life, of a rover.
E MajorE
>From the Murray's green basin,
D MajorD A augmentedA
To the dusty outback,
E MajorE A augmentedA
I waltzed my matilda all over.
E MajorE D MajorD A augmentedA
Then in 1915, my country said "son"
E MajorE
"It's time to stop rambling,"
D MajorD A augmentedA
"Cos there's work to be done."
D MajorD
So they gave me a tin hat,
A augmentedA
And they gave me a gun,
E MajorE A augmentedA
And they sent me away to the war.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
D MajorD E MajorE
As we sailed away from the quay.
D MajorD
And amidst all the tears,
A augmentedA
And the shouts and the cheers,
E MajorE A augmentedA
We sailed off for Galipoli
D MajorD A augmentedA
How well I remember that terrible day,
E MajorE A augmentedA
when the blood stained the sand and the water.
E MajorE
And how in that hell
D MajorD A augmentedA
that they called Souvla Bay
E MajorE A augmentedA
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
E MajorE D MajorD A augmentedA
Johnny Turk, he was ready, He'd primed himself well.
E MajorE
He showered us with bullets,
D MajorD A augmentedA
And he rained us with shells.
D MajorD
And in five minutes flat,
A augmentedA
he'd blown us all to hell.
E MajorE A augmentedA
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
E MajorE
As we stopped to bury our slain.
D MajorD
And we buried ours
A augmentedA
and the Turks buried theirs,
E MajorE A augmentedA
And it started all over again.
D MajorD A augmentedA
Now those who were living, Did their best to survive,
E MajorE A augmentedA
In that mad world of guts, blood, and fire.
E MajorE
And for seven long weeks,
D MajorD A augmentedA
I kept myself alive,
E MajorE A augmentedA
As the corpses around me piled higher.
E MajorE D MajorD A augmentedA
Then a big Turkish shell, Knocked me arse over tit.
E MajorE
And when I awoke
D MajorD A augmentedA
in my hospital bed,
D MajorD
And saw what it had done,
A augmentedA
Christ I wished I was dead.
E MajorE A augmentedA
Never knew there were worse things than dying.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda,
E MajorE
To the green bushes so far and near.
D MajorD
For to hang tent and pegs
A augmentedA
A augmentedA man needs two legs.
E MajorE A augmentedA
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.
D MajorD A augmentedA
So they collected the crippled, The wounded and maimed,
E MajorE A augmentedA
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
E MajorE
The legless, the armless,
D MajorD A augmentedA
the blind and insane.
E MajorE A augmentedA
Those proud wounded heroes of Souvla
E MajorE D MajorD A augmentedA
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
E MajorE
I looked at the place
D MajorD A augmentedA
where my legs used to be.
D MajorD
And thank Christ, there was nobody
A augmentedA
waiting for me,
E MajorE A augmentedA
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
E MajorE
As they carried us down the gangway.
D MajorD
But nobody cheered,
A augmentedA
They just stood and stared,
E MajorE A augmentedA
And they turned their faces away.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And now every April, I sit on my porch,
E MajorE A augmentedA
And I watch the parades pass before me.
E MajorE
I see my old comrades,
D MajorD A augmentedA
How proudly they march.
E MajorE A augmentedA
Reliving the dreams of past glory.
E MajorE D MajorD A augmentedA
I see the old men, all twisted and torn.
E MajorE
The forgotten heroes
D MajorD A augmentedA
of a forgotten war.
D MajorD
And the young people ask me,
A augmentedA
What are they marching for?
E MajorE A augmentedA
And I ask my self the same question.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
E MajorE
And the old men still answer the call.
D MajorD
But year after year,
A augmentedA
Their numbers get fewer,
E MajorE A augmentedA
Someday no-one will march there at all.
A augmentedA D MajorD
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
A augmentedA E MajorE
Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?