The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Chords by The Dubliners

[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When I [Db] was a young man, [Ab] I carried [Fm] me pack, [Ab] And I lived [Eb] the free life of [Ab] the rover.
_ _ _ From the Murray's [Db] green basin [Ab] to the dusty [Fm] outback, _ [Ab] I watched my [Eb] Matilda [Ab] all over. _
_ [Eb] Then in _ _ 1915, [Db] me country [Ab] said, son, [Eb] it's time to stop _ [Db] ramblin', there's work to be [Ab] done.
So they gave me [Db] a tin hat, [Ab] and they gave [Fm] me a gun, _ _ and [Ab] they sent me [Eb]
away to [Ab] the war.
And _ the band [Db] played Waltzing _ [Ab] Matilda when the ship pulled away from [Eb] the quay.
_ _ _ [Db] And amid all the tears, [Ab] flag-wavin' [Fm] and tears, _ _ _ [Ab] we sailed off [Eb] for [Ab] Gallipoli.
_ _ _ _ Oh, it's well [Db] I remember [Ab] that terrible [Fm] day, [Ab] when our blood stained [Eb] the sand [Ab] and the water. _
_ And how, in that [Db] hell [Ab] they called Suvla [Fm] Bay, [Ab] we were butchered [Eb] like lambs [Ab] at the slaughter.
_ _ [Eb] Johnny Turk, he was ready, [Db] he'd primed [Ab] himself well.
[Eb] He rained us with bullets, [Db] and he showered us with [Ab] shell.
And in five [Db] minutes flat, [Ab] we were all blown [Fm] to hell. _
He [Ab] nearly blew us [Ebm] back home [Ab] to Australia.
_ And the band [Db] played Waltzing [Ab] Matilda when _ we stopped to bury [Eb] our slain. _ _
_ [Db] Well, we buried ours, [Ab] and the Turks buried [Fm] theirs.
_ _ _ [Ab] Then it started [Eb] all over [Ab] again. _ _
_ Oh, those [Db] that were living [Ab] just tried to [Fm] survive [Ab] in that mad world [Ebm] of blood, [Ab] death and fire.
_ _ And for ten weary [Db] weeks, I [Ab] kept myself [Fm]
alive [Ab] while around me [Eb] the corpses [Ab] piled higher.
_ _ [Eb] Then a big Turkish shell knocked [Db] me arse [Ab] overhead.
_ [Eb] And when I awoke in [Db] me hospital [Ab] bed and saw what it [Db] had done, [Ab] I wished I [Fm] was dead.
_ _ [Ab] I never knew [Eb] there was worse things [Ab] than dying.
_ _ On a moor I'll [Db] go Waltzing _ [Ab] Matilda, _ _ all around the green bush [Eb] far and near.
For _ [Db] to hump tent and pegs, [Ab] a man needs [Fm] both legs. _ _
No [Ab] more Waltzing [Eb] Matilda [Ab] for me.
_ _ They collected [Db] the wounded, [Ab] the crippled, [Fm] the maimed, [Ab] and they shipped us back home to Australia. _ _
_ The armless, [Db] the legless, [Ab] the blind and [Fm] the insane, [Ab] those proud wounded heroes of Soumla.
_ _ _ [Eb] And when the ship pulled [Db] into circular [Ab] quay, [Eb] I looked at the place [Db] where me legs used [Ab] to be.
And thank Christ there [Db] was no one [Ab] there waiting [Fm] for me. _ _
[Ab] To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
_ _ And the band [Db] played Waltzing [Ab] Matilda, _ _ _ and they carried us down the [Eb] gangway. _ _
[Db] Oh nobody cheered, they [Ab] just stood there [Fm] and stared.
_ _ _ [Ab] Then they turned all their faces away. _ _ _
Oh now, [Db] every April I [Ab] sit on [Fm] my porch [Ab] and I watch the parade pass before me.
_ _ I see [Db] my old comrades, [Ab] how proudly [Fm] they march, _ [Ab]
renewing [Eb] their dream of [Ab] past glories. _ _
[Eb] I see the old men, [Db] all tired, stiff [Ab] and worn, [Eb] those weary old heroes [Db] of a forgotten [Ab] war.
And the young [Db] people ask, what [Ab] are they [Fm] marching for? _
_ _ [Ab] And I ask [Eb] myself the [Ab] same question.
_ And the band [Db] plays Waltzing [Ab] Matilda, _ _ and the old men still answer the [Eb] call. _
_ [Db] But year after year, [Ab] the numbers get [Fm] fewer.
_ _ _ [Ab] Someday no one will march there at all. _
_ _ _ Waltzing Matilda, [Db] _
Waltzing Matilda, [Ab] who'll come a Waltzing Matilda [Eb] with me?
And [Ab] the [Bb] ghosts may be heard [Db] as they march by the billabong.
[Ab] So who'll come a Waltzing [Eb] Matilda _ [Ab]