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 lived the free of a rover
From the Murray's basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said son, It's time you rambling, there's work to be done.
So they gave me a tin hat, and they 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 flag-waving and tears, we 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 they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like 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 five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to
blew us right 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 were left, well we tried to survive, in that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, though around me the corpses higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, and when I woke up in my bed,
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. knew there 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 more waltzing Matilda for me.
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they us back home to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud wounded heroes of
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the where me legs used to be.
And thanked Christ was nobody waiting 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, then they turned all faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I the parades pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of glories
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, are they 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 year, more old men disappear. Someday no one will march there at all.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda me?
And their may be heard as they march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

"Matilda" - the backpack and associated used by livestock drovers and prospecters
in remote areas of the 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
attempted an invasion of Turkey.
The action was confined to the Dardanelles
and the tip of the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) Peninsula
Istanbul. The purpose of the campaign, by British
minister David Lloyd George, first lord of the
admiralty Winston Churchill, General H. Kitchener,
and Admiral H. Carden, was to open up a new
theater of war as an alternative to the in
France, to relieve pressure on Russian forces
in the Caucasus, and, by gaining control of
and the straits, to provide a direct link with
via the Black Sea. This campaign is significant
for in that it marked the first time a major
military force was commanded by Australian,
of English, officers.

What initially was to be exclusively a naval
failed in 1915 when several British and French
ships damaged by floating mines. A land invasion was
then decided on, but it was not until late April.
An amphibious landing at that time was met with
resistance by the Turks. caution and timorous
leadership by the commander, Sir Ian Hamilton,
resulted in several initiatives. Little headway
was beyond the several beachheads. In early August,
after months of stalemate and stagnation on the
beaches, a new major offensive was begun. again,
however, the excessive caution and leadership
of the British offset the effect of heavy
reinforcements. The forces, on the other hand, were
inspired by the leadership of Mustafa (Kemal Atatrk,
later president of Turkey) and the of their German
commander, Liman von Sanders. After a few more months
of stalemate, Hamilton was by Sir Charles Monro,
who was sent to the situation. Monro recommended
evacuation, and the allied were withdrawn in December
and January. British 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 overall failure, however, the campaign
weakened the Turks enough to facilitate the British
of Palestine in 1917. The also distracted the Germans
from a they had in 1915 to begin another offensive in France.