Luyện nghe bài hát AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

"And The Played Waltzing Matilda"
- Eric

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

And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how I remember that 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 himself well. He us with bullets,
And he rained us with shell. And in minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us back to Australia.

But the played Waltzing 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 myself alive, though around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me over head, and when I woke up in my hospital bed,
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never knew there was worse 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 more waltzing Matilda for me.
So they the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back home 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 place where me legs to be.
And thanked Christ there was nobody for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

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

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear. no one will march there at all.
Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda 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 drovers and
in remote areas of the outback.
"Swag" - canvas bag
"Billabong" - creek or estuary, generally with an to the sea and containing more or less brackish water.

Note:
The Gallipoli (April 25, 1915-January 8, 1916),
a major land and sea of World War I, in which
British, French, Australian, and New Zealand
unsuccessfully attempted an of Turkey.
The action was confined to the Dardanelles
and the tip of the (Gelibolu) Peninsula near
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, by British
munitions minister David Lloyd George, first of the
admiralty Winston Churchill, Herbert H. Kitchener,
and Admiral Sackville H. Carden, was to up a new
of war as an alternative to the stalemate in
France, to relieve Turkish pressure on forces
in the Caucasus, and, by control of Istanbul
and the straits, to provide a direct link with
via the Black Sea. campaign is also significant
for Australians in that it marked the 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 several British and
ships were by floating mines. A land invasion was
then on, but it was not begun until late April.
An amphibious at that time was met with heavy
resistance by the Turks. Excessive caution and
by the British commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
resulted in several lost initiatives. headway
was made beyond the several beachheads. In August,
after three months of stalemate and on the
beaches, a new major was begun. Once again,
however, the excessive caution and indifferent
of the British command the effect of heavy
reinforcements. The Turkish forces, on the hand, were
by the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Kemal Atatrk,
later of Turkey) and the skill of their German
commander, Otto Liman von Sanders. a few more months
of stalemate, was replaced by Sir Charles Monro,
who was sent to evaluate the situation. Monro
evacuation, and the allied were withdrawn in December
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 fiasco
the reputations of Churchill, Hamilton, and Kitchener.
Despite its overall failure, however, the Gallipoli
weakened the Turks enough to facilitate the seizure
of Palestine in 1917. The action also the Germans
from a plan they had in 1915 to begin another in France.