And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Intro
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Verse
     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

Chorus
        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

Verse
    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

Chorus
        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

Verse
        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

Chorus
        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

Verse
    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

Chorus
        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

Outro
G   C   G   G
G   Em  D   D
G   C   G   Em  Em
G   D   G   G

G   C   G

(fade out)