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 dusty outback, well, I my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done.
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and marched me away to the war.

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

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

For go no more 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 they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud wounded of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the where me legs used to be.
And Christ there was nobody waiting 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 just stood and stared, then they all their faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the parades pass me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of past
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They're tired old heroes from a war
And the young people ask, what are marching for? And I ask myself the same question.

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

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

Note:
The Gallipoli (April 25, 1915-January 8, 1916),
a major land and sea operation of War I, in which
British, French, Australian, and New forces
unsuccessfully an invasion of Turkey.
The action was confined to the Strait
and the tip of the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) near
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, devised by
munitions minister David Lloyd George, first of the
admiralty Churchill, General Herbert H. Kitchener,
and Sackville H. Carden, was to open up a new
of war as an alternative to the stalemate in
France, to relieve pressure on Russian forces
in the Caucasus, and, by control of Istanbul
and the straits, to a direct link with Russia
via the Black Sea. campaign is also significant
for Australians in that it the first time a major
military force was commanded by Australian,
of English, officers.

What initially was to be a naval operation
failed in February 1915 when several British and
ships were damaged by floating mines. A invasion was
then decided on, but it was not begun late April.
An amphibious at that time was met with heavy
resistance by the Turks. caution and timorous
leadership by the commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
resulted in several initiatives. Little headway
was made the several beachheads. In early August,
after three months of and stagnation on the
beaches, a new offensive was begun. Once again,
however, the excessive caution and leadership
of the British command the effect of heavy
reinforcements. The Turkish forces, on the other hand,
inspired by the leadership of Kemal (Kemal Atatrk,
later president of Turkey) and the of their German
commander, Otto Liman von Sanders. After a few more
of stalemate, Hamilton was by Sir Charles Monro,
who was to evaluate the situation. Monro recommended
evacuation, and the allied forces were withdrawn in
and January. casualties were 205,000 out of 410,000;
the sustained a rate of 47,000 out of 79,000; Turkish,
250,000 to 300,000 out of 500,000. The badly
stained the of Churchill, Hamilton, and Kitchener.
its overall failure, however, the Gallipoli campaign
weakened the Turks enough to facilitate the seizure
of in 1917. The action also distracted the Germans
from a they had in 1915 to begin another offensive in France.