THE BAND PLAYED: Our favorite Anti-War Song

THE BAND PLAYED
WALTZING MATILDA:
Our Favorite Anti-war Song

We must confess. We think this is one of the most beautiful anti-war songs ever written. Granted, it was written in the 1970s and it’s about events which took place in World War I, but the themes are both, eternal and universal–the stupidity and barbarism of war. We hadn’t heard the song until BibleBelted introduced us to an old recording by an Irish group called “The Clancey Brothers.” It was love at first hearing, and as each one of us passed it along to the next member we realized that it was a classic, right up there with John Lennon’s IMAGINE and the all time standard “BLOWING IN THE WIND.” But THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA is so poignant and so well constructed that it can literally make you cry, as a few of us did when we first heard it. Indeed, it still has that effect on some of us, even after all this time. Initially we had intended this as a part of our series about DESTROYED LIVES AND FAMILIES but we couldn’t find a proper place insert the song. That said we offer it here as a post in its own right. We offer no additional commentary except to say that the lyrics say it all.

PraetorOne and crew of THE COALITION FOR A DEMOCRATIC AMERICA

THE BAND PLAYED
WALTZING MATILDA
By Eric Bogle

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 nineteen fifteen my country said son
It’s time to stop 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 the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag-waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

When I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that we called Sulva Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johny Turk he was ready, oh he primed himself well
He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
Nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
And we’d bury ours and the Turks buried theirs
And it started all over again

Those who were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death, and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me ass over head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done then I wished I were dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying

Oh no more I’ll go Waltzing Matilda
Around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Sulva

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve, and to mourn, and to pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

(So) now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glory

I see the old men, all tired, stiff, and sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, what are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, the numbers get fewer
Someday no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who will come a Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
Who will come a Waltzing Matilda with me

–
Let Freedom Ring,

The Coalition for a Democratic America