The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Key F Capo 5th Fret) 
                                  
Intro: 1 2 3 1 2 3 C F C Am C G C 
C            F           C          Am         C              G           C     
When I was a young man I carried my pack and I lived the free life of the rover 
C                       F            C         Am     C              G        C    
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty out-back I waltzed my Mat-ilda all over 
        G                   F             C         G                             F          C    
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said, Son, it’s time to stop ramblin’ there’s work to be done 
C                 F                C         Am           C         G          C   
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun and they sent me a-way to the war 
       
Chorus 
C                   F            C                         F            G     
And the band played Waltzing Mat-ilda as the ship pulled a-way from the quay, 
      F                        C          F         C            G        C 
And a-mid all the cheers, flag waving and tears, we sailed of to Gallipol-i 
C             F           C        Am           C                 G            C     
How well I re-member that terrible day when the blood stained the sand and the water 
C               F              C            Am          C              G            C         
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter 
       G                     F              C        G                             F                C     
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well. He chased us with bullets and he showered us with shell 
C                F            C            Am           C             G            C     
And in 5 minutes flat we were all blown to hell. Nearly blew us right back to Aust-ralia 
       
Chorus 
C                   F            C                     F        G     
And the band played Waltzing Mat-ilda as we stopped to bury our slain 
    F                      C            F              C           G      C    
And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs Then we started all over a-gain 
C                   F            C            Am        C            G                C    
Now those that were left well we tried to sur-vive in a mad world of blood, death and fire 
C                 F       C             Am        C            G             C      
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself a-live as a-round me the corpses piled higher 
       G                            F         C        G                  F        C   
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head and when I awoke in my hospital bed 
C                 F          C            Am           C               G                 C     
I saw what it had done and I wished I was dead I never knew there were worse things than dying 
       
Chorus 
C                   F            C                         F            G    
For no more I’ll go waltzing Mat-ilda all around the green bush far and near 
       F                     C              F       C                 G        C  
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs No more waltzing Mat-ilda for me 
               
D G D Bm D A D 
D                     G             D            Bm              D               A            D     
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed and they shipped us back home to Aust-ralia 
D                G            D             Bm          D             A         D     
The armless, the legless, the blind, the in-sane, those proud wounded heroes of Suvla 
    A                       G        D      A                            G            D  
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be 
D                          G            D           Bm    D             A             D    
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me to grieve and to mourne and to pity 
       
Chorus 
D                   G            D                       G             A   
And the band played Waltzing Mat-ilda as they carried us down the gang-way 
    G                        D               G           D                A       D   
But nobody cheered they just stood there and stared Then turned all their faces a-way 
D             G       D         Bm          D             A           D       
And now every April I sit on my porch and I watch the par-ade pass be-fore me 
D                  G             D            Bm       D          A              D     
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march re-newing old dreams of past glory 
        A                        G               D         A                    G         D   
And the old men march slowly all bent, stiff and sore, the tired old men from a forgotten war 
D                    G            D             Bm         D      A             D        
And the young people ask What are they marching for? and I ask my-self the same question 
       
Chorus 
D                   G            D                          G          A    
And the band played waltzing Mat-ilda and the old men still answer the call 
    D                     D           G               D           A              D   
But year after year their numbers get fewer, some day no one will march there at all 
D                G                 
Walzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda. 
D                                   A  
Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me 
          D             A        G                         
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass by the Billabong 
D                          A         D  
Who’ll come a-waltzing Mat-ilda with me