Luyện nghe bài hát AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

"And The Band Played Matilda"
- Eric

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

And the band Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed well. He shower'd us with bullets,
And he us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us back 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, well we tried to survive, in mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, and I woke up in my hospital bed,
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never knew there was worse things dyin'.

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the green far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man both legs-no more waltzing Matilda for me.
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us home to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be.
And thanked Christ there was waiting for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

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

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

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

Historical
The Gallipoli (April 25, 1915-January 8, 1916),
a major land and sea of World War I, in which
British, French, Australian, and New forces
unsuccessfully an invasion of Turkey.
The was confined to the Dardanelles Strait
and the tip of the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) near
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, by British
munitions minister David Lloyd George, lord of the
admiralty Churchill, General Herbert H. Kitchener,
and Admiral Sackville H. Carden, was to 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 link with Russia
via the Black Sea. campaign is also significant
for in that it marked the first time a major
Australian force was commanded by Australian,
of English, officers.

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