Luyện nghe bài hát AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

"And The Band Waltzing Matilda"
- Eric

Now when I was a young man, I me pack, and I lived the free life of a rover
From the green basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done.
So they me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the
And all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day, how our blood the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd himself well. He shower'd us with bullets,
And he rained us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he'd us all to hell
Nearly blew us right to Australia.

But the band played Matilda, when we stopped to bury our slain.
We buried ours, and the Turks theirs, then we started all over again.
And those that were left, we tried to survive, in that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, though around me the corpses higher
Then a big Turkish shell me arse over head, and when I woke up in my hospital bed,
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never there was worse things than dyin'.

For I'll go no waltzing Matilda, all around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs-no waltzing Matilda for me.
So gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back home to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me used to be.
And thanked Christ there was nobody for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda, as they carried us the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they stood and stared, then they turned all their faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old of past glories
And the old men slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, what are they for? And I ask myself the same question.

But the band plays Matilda, and the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear. no one will march there at all.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, who'll come a-waltzing with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

"Matilda" - the backpack and associated gear used by livestock and prospecters
in remote areas of the outback.
"Swag" - canvas bag
"Billabong" - creek or estuary, generally an outlet to the sea and containing more or less brackish water.

Note:
The Gallipoli Campaign (April 25, 8, 1916),
a land and sea operation of World War I, in which
British, French, Australian, and New forces
attempted an invasion of Turkey.
The was confined to the Dardanelles Strait
and the tip of the (Gelibolu) Peninsula near
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, by British
munitions minister Lloyd George, first lord of the
admiralty Winston Churchill, Herbert H. Kitchener,
and Admiral H. Carden, was to open up a new
theater of war as an alternative to the in
France, to Turkish pressure on Russian forces
in the Caucasus, and, by gaining of Istanbul
and the straits, to provide a direct with Russia
via the Sea. This campaign is also significant
for Australians in it marked the first time a major
Australian military was commanded by Australian,
of English, officers.

What initially was to be exclusively a operation
failed in February 1915 when British and French
ships were damaged by mines. A land invasion was
then decided on, but it was not until late April.
An amphibious landing at that time was met heavy
resistance by the Turks. Excessive and timorous
leadership by the commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
resulted in several lost initiatives. headway
was made beyond the several beachheads. In August,
after three of stalemate and stagnation on the
beaches, a new major offensive was begun. again,
however, the caution and indifferent leadership
of the British command offset the of heavy
reinforcements. The Turkish forces, on the other hand,
by the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Kemal Atatrk,
later president of Turkey) and the skill of their
commander, Otto Liman von Sanders. After a few months
of stalemate, Hamilton was replaced by Sir Monro,
who was sent to evaluate the situation. Monro
evacuation, and the allied were withdrawn in December
and January. British were 205,000 out of 410,000;
the French sustained a of 47,000 out of 79,000; Turkish,
250,000 to 300,000 out of 500,000. The badly
the reputations of Churchill, Hamilton, and Kitchener.
Despite its overall failure, however, the campaign
weakened the Turks enough to facilitate the British
of Palestine in 1917. The also distracted the Germans
from a they had in 1915 to begin another offensive in France.