Luyện nghe bài hát AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

"And The Played Waltzing Matilda"
- Eric

Now when I was a young man, I carried me pack, and I lived the free of a rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my all over.
Then in 1915, my country said son, It's time you 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 away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the 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 they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs 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 minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell
blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda, we stopped to bury our slain.
We ours, and the Turks buried 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, though around me the piled higher
Then a big shell knocked 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 knew there was worse things dyin'.

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the bush far and free
To hump and pegs, a man needs 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, proud 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 was nobody 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 pass me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of 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 marching for? And I ask myself the same question.

But the band Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call,
But as follows 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 as they march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

"Matilda" - the backpack and associated gear by livestock drovers and prospecters
in remote of the Australian outback.
"Swag" - sleeping 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 operation of 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 of the campaign, devised by British
minister David Lloyd George, first lord of the
admiralty Winston Churchill, General H. Kitchener,
and Admiral Sackville H. Carden, was to up a new
theater of war as an to the stalemate in
France, to relieve Turkish on Russian forces
in the Caucasus, and, by control of Istanbul
and the straits, to a direct link with Russia
via the Black Sea. This campaign is also
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 several and French
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
leadership by the commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
resulted in several initiatives. Little headway
was made the several beachheads. In early August,
after months of stalemate and stagnation on the
beaches, a new major was begun. Once again,
however, the excessive caution and indifferent
of the command offset the effect of heavy
reinforcements. The Turkish forces, on the hand, were
inspired by the leadership of Kemal (Kemal Atatrk,
later of Turkey) and the skill of their German
commander, Otto Liman von Sanders. After a few more
of stalemate, was replaced by Sir Charles Monro,
who was sent to evaluate the situation. recommended
evacuation, and the forces were withdrawn in December
and January. British casualties 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
stained the 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 also distracted the
from a plan had in 1915 to begin another offensive in France.