Chords for June Tabor-The Band Played Waltzing Matilida

[N] _ _ [C] When I [F] was a young [C] man I carried me [G] pack [F] and I [C] lived the free [G] life of the [Gm] rover
_ _ _ From the [C] Murray's green [Gm] basin _ to the dusty [G] outback [C] I waltzed my Matilda [F] all over
_ _ _ [C] Then in _ _ 1915 [G] the country said son _ it's time to stop rambling there's work to [C] be done _
And they gave [F] me a tin hat and they gave [A] me a gun [G] and [F] they sent [G] me away to [F] the war _ _
_ _ [Bb] And the [C] band [F] played [Gm] Walsey and [C] Matilda _ _ as our ship pulled away from the _ _ quay
[Gm] Amidst all the [C] cheers, the flag waving and tears we sailed [Gm] off to _
_ [F] Gallipoli
_ [G] _ _ _ [A] _
[Cm] How well I [G] remember [C] that _ [A] terrible day, [F] how blood [C] stained the sand and [F] the water _ _
[Ab] And [C] how in that [F] hell that they [C]
called [A] Suvla Bay [F] we were [C] butchered like lambs at the [F] slaughter _ _ _
[C] Johnny Turkey was ready, [F] he primed [Gm] himself well, he [G] chased [C] us with [G] bullets, he [F] rained us [C] with shell
_ And in five minutes [G] flat [C] he'd blown us [A] all to [F] hell, nearly blew us [Gm] right back to Australia _
_ _ But the band [F] played Walsey and [C] Matilda _ _ as we stopped [G] to bury [C] our slain
_ _ [Gm] We buried ours [C] and the Turks buried theirs, then we [F] started all over _ again
_ [G] _ _ _ [C] Now [F] those that were left, well we [C] tried to [A] survive [F] _ in a [C] mad world of blood, death and [F] fire
_ And [C] for ten [F] weary [G] weeks I kept myself [A] _ [F] alive, though [C] around me the corpses [G] _ piled [F] higher
[C] _ _
Then a big Turkish shell [F] knocked me ass over head, [G] _ and when I woke up in [F] my [C] hospital bed _
I saw what it [F] had done [C] and I [Bb] wished I was dead, _ never knew there was worse [G] things than dying
_ _ _ For [C] I'll go no [F] more Walsey and [C] Matilda, _ _
[G] all [C] around [F] the green bush far and _ [C] near
_ A dump, [Gm] a tent and [C] pegs, a man needs [G] both legs, no more [F] Walsey and [A] Matilda [F] for me
[G] _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] So they [C] collected [F] the cripples, [C] the wounded [A] and [F] maimed, and [C] they shipped us back [G] home to Australia
_ _ The [C] _ legless, the armless, the blind and insane, _ those proud wounded [G] heroes of _ Souvlac'h
_ And [C] as our ship pulled into [G] _ Cycloche, _ _ _ I looked at the place [Gm] where me legs [C] used to be _
And thank Christ there [G] was no one [C] there waiting for [G] me, to grieve [Bb] and to mourn and to [F] pity _
[G] _ _ _ [C] And the band [F] played Walsey and [C] Matilda, _ _
_ [Bb] as they [C] carried us down the gangway
_ [Bb] But _ nobody cheered, [Ab] _ they just stood [G] and stared, [C] then they [Gm] turned all their faces _ [F] away
_ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] And now every April I sit on [Dm] my porch, [F] _ and I [C] watch the parade [G] pass before me _
_ And [C] I watch [F] my old comrades, [C] how proudly they march, _ _ renewing old [G] dreams in past glory
_ And the old [C] men march slowly, [G] all bent, stiff and sore, _ [C] the tired old men from [F] a forgotten war
_ [Bb] And the [F] young people ask, what are they [A] marching for?
_ And I ask [Gm] _ myself the same question
_ _ [G] _
[C] And the band plays [Gm] Walsey and [C] Matilda, _ _ _ _ [G] and the [C] old men [F] _ answer the call _
But [Gm] year by year, the numbers [G] get fewer, _ [F] someday no one will [G] march [F] there at _ all
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [C] Walsey and Matilda, _ _ _ [G] Walsey and Matilda, _ _ _ [C] _
oh come Walsey and [Gm] Matilda with _ me
_ [G] _ [A] And their ghosts may [G] be heard, as they pass by the [F]
billabong
_ [G] _ _ [F] _ Come _
[Gm] Walsey _ and Matilda _ _ with _ _ _ me
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _