Luyện nghe bài hát AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

"And The Band Played Matilda"
- Eric

Now when I was a young man, I me pack, and I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback, well, I my Matilda all over.
in 1915, my country said 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 pulled from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we off for Gallipoli
And how well I that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, primed himself well. He shower'd us with bullets,
And he rained us with shell. And in five flat, he'd blown us all to hell
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 alive, though 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 things than dyin'.

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the 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 heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be.
And thanked there was nobody waiting for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

But the band played Matilda, as they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, then 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 and sore. They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same 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, come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda me?

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

Historical
The Gallipoli Campaign (April 25, 8, 1916),
a major land and sea operation of War I, in which
British, French, Australian, and New forces
attempted an invasion of Turkey.
The action was confined to the Strait
and the tip of the (Gelibolu) Peninsula near
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, devised by
minister David Lloyd George, first lord of the
admiralty Winston Churchill, General H. Kitchener,
and Admiral H. Carden, was to open up a new
of war as an alternative to the stalemate 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 Black Sea. campaign is also significant
for Australians in that it marked the time a major
military force was commanded by Australian,
of English, officers.

What was to be exclusively a naval operation
failed in 1915 when several British and French
ships were damaged by floating mines. A land was
then decided on, but it was not begun late April.
An amphibious landing at that time was met with
resistance by the Turks. Excessive caution and
leadership by the commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
in several lost initiatives. Little headway
was made beyond the several beachheads. In August,
after months of stalemate and stagnation on the
beaches, a new major offensive was begun. again,
however, the excessive and indifferent leadership
of the British command the effect of heavy
reinforcements. The forces, on the other hand, were
inspired by the leadership of Kemal (Kemal Atatrk,
later president of Turkey) and the skill of their
commander, Liman von Sanders. After 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 in December
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
the reputations of Churchill, Hamilton, and Kitchener.
Despite its failure, however, the Gallipoli campaign
weakened the Turks enough to the British seizure
of Palestine in 1917. The action distracted the Germans
from a plan they had in 1915 to another offensive in France.