And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Cifras

Capo 5 for Eric Bogle's recording - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUwDHNJlJ2I
 
 
[Intro]
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[Verse]
 
         G       C           G          Em
Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
      G              D           G
And I lived the free life on the rover
                        C            G        Em
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
        G             D        G
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over
 
        D       C             G
Then in 1915 me country said, Son
     D                                  C          G
It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done
                  C                 G         Em
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun
         G            D         G
And they marched me away to the war
 
 
[Chorus]
 
     G                   C           G
     And the band played Waltzing Matilda
                          C           D   Dsus4  D
     As the ship pulled away from the quay
           C            Am               G          Em
     And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
        G              D      G  Gsus4  G
     We sailed off for Gallipoli
 
 
[Verse]
 
        G        C           G        Em
And how well I remember that terrible day
        G                 D            G
How our blood stained the sand and the water
                   C              G          Em
And of 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
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell
                    C         G               Em
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
       G             D            G
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
 
 
[Chorus]
 
     G                   C           G
     But the band played Waltzing Matilda
                        C        D   Dsus4  D
     When we stopped to bury our slain
     C         Am            G            Em
     We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs
             G           D      G  Gsus4  G
     Then we started all over again
 
 
[Verse]
 
     G              C              G           Em
And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
        G            D                G
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
                  C            G        Em
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
        G           D             G
While around me the corpses piled higher
 
       D                            C         G
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
    D                    C        G
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
                    C             G            Em
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead
      G              D                 G
Never knew there was worse things than dying
 
 
[Chorus]
 
     G                   C           G
     For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda
                          C            D   Dsus4  D
     All around the green bush far and free
        C             Am      G              Em
     To hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
             G           D        G  Gsus4  G
     No more Waltzing Matilda for me
 
 
[Verse]
 
        G            C             G            Em
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
         G               D            G
And they shipped us back home to Australia
                 C            G            Em
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
      G             D         G
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
 
    D                       C        G
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
  D                            C            G
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
                             C      G           Em
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
   G          D             G
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity
 
 
[Chorus]
 
     G                   C           G
     But the band played Waltzing Matilda
                        C            D   Dsus4  D
     As they carried us down the gangway
         C      Am                 G         Em
     But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
               G                D      G  Gsus4  G
     Then they turned all their faces away
 
 
[Verse]
 
       G         C       G         Em
And so now every April I sit on my porch
      G            D          G
And I watch the parade pass before me
                 C            G            Em
And I see my old comrades how proudly they march
  G          D              G
Reviving old dreams of past glory
 
        D                         C               G
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore
        D                       C         G
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
                     C               G             Em
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
    G       D             G
And I ask meself the same question
 
 
[Chorus]
 
     G                  C           G
     But the band plays Waltzing Matilda
                           C          D   Dsus4  D
     And the old men still answer the call
            C            Am             G        Em
     But as year follows year, more old men disappear
             G           D              G  Gsus4  G
     Someday no one will march there at all
 
 
[Verse]
 
G                 C
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
G             Em         Am         D
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
          G             D             Em            C
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong
G                        D7         G
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
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