Slim Dusty – And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Guitar)

     G       C             G         Em
When I was a young man and carried a pack

  G              D         G
I lived the free life of a rover

         G              C            G        Em
From the Murray's green banks to the dusty outback

  G             D        G
I waltzed my Matilda all over

        D        C              G
Then in 1915 the country said, 'Son

D                            C          G
No time for roaming, there's work to be done'

         G         C            G         Em
And they gave me a tin hat, and gave me a gun

         G        D          G
And they sent me away to the war

        G           C           G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda

       G            Em           D
As our ship pulled away from the quay

     G             C                G          Em
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears

   G             D      G
We sailed off to Gallipoli

    G        C           G        Em
How well I remember that terrible day

         G                 D            G
When our blood stained the sand and the water

    G           C              G          Em
And how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay

        G              D            G
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

       D                         C              G
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well

D                             C              G
Showered us with bullets, and rained us with shell

       G           C         G           Em
And in ten seconds flat he'd blown us to hell

       G             D            G
Nearly blew us right back to Australia

        G           C           G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda

   G             Em       D
As we stopped to bury the slain

G         C            G            Em
We buried our men, the Turks buried theirs

            G           D      G
And then we started all over again

        G          C             G           Em
They collected the cripples, the wounded and maimed

         G               D            G
And they shipped us back home to Australia

    G            C            G            Em
The armless, the legless, the blind, and insane

        G             D         G
All the brave wounded heroes of Suvla

    D                         C        G
And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay

  D                            C            G
I looked at the place where my legs used to be

        G                C      G           Em
I thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me

   G             D            G
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

        G           C           G
And the band played Waltzing Matilda

        G          Em           D
As they carried us down the gangway

    G      C                  G               Em
And nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared

    G                 D      G
And then turned their faces away

    G         C       G         Em
And now every April I sit on my porch

      G           D           G
And I watch the parade pass before me

      G          C             G            Em
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march

  G          D               G
Reliving old dreams and past glories

        D                           C               G
But the old men march slowly, their bones stiff and sore

D                    C         G
Tired old men from a tired old war

        G            C              G             Em
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"

    G       D             G
And I ask myself the same question

        G           C           G
But the band played Waltzing Matilda

        G            Em          D
And the old men they answer the call

    G          C               G        Em
But year after year, those old men disappear

         G           D              G
And soon no one will march there at all