The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and ANZAC Day

 

Today is ANZAC Day and it always makes me think of this song - especially this version.

Band Played Waltzing Matilda and ANZAC Day

 

Today is ANZAC Day and that means The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Perhaps the saddest and most poignant song my ears have ever heard.

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, which to me always brings to mind The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (the best version is by The Clancy Brothers sung by Liam Clancy).

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, which to me always brings to mind The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (the best version is by The Clancy Brothers sung by Liam Clancy).

Waltzing Matilda and ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day and that means The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Perhaps the saddest and most poignant song my ears have ever heard.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Just a reminder that today is the perfect date

- Seven tips for picking your Kentucky Derby horse(s)

- We were promised flying cars!

- Heh heh - so true!

- A Nassau Coliseum retrospective

- The Hubble Telescope turned 25 yesterday. Here are 15 amazing images from those 25-years.

- A reminder that today is ANZAC Day (also a reminder that the song And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda is one of the most emotionally powerful songs ever written)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Could the biggest offseason acquisition for any team have been Kelly Johnson for the Diamondbacks? Johnson is hitting ,327 with 6 HR and an OPS of 1.231 And he is 3rd in Total Bases in the NL with 44. Who knew?... Al Pacino turns 70-years old today. I'm sorry but I've always thought he was over-rated as an actor. People complain that Jeff Bridges always seems to be playing himself but the same could be said of Pacino... I'm starting to wonder if the real reason that Peter Gammons left ESPN was because of their Twitter policies. He's a complete moonbat. His Tweets are like listening to a crazy uncle who is fixated on Woodstock and on protesting Richard Nixon but who also happens to be a baseball savant... You're doing it wrong. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers has 2 stolen bases but has been caught 5 times... A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, 'I'll serve you, but don't start anything'... Happy 34th birthday to one of the all-time great NBA players - Tim Duncan... Today is ANZAC Day in Australia. In honor of that sacred holiday here's one of the most touching songs ever written...

ANZAC Day

I'd be remiss in not noting that today (April 25th) is ANZAC Day. In my mind ANZAC Day and this song are inextricably linked.

ANZAC Day

Today is a sacred day in Australia. Today is ANZAC day. For an understanding of what ANZAC Day means click here.

I cannot thnk of ANZAC Day without thinking of the song The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. This song has some of the most moving lyrics ever put to music and although I'm not a big fan of people who post lyrics - I will make exceptions once and a while.

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in nineteen fifteen the country said, "Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done."
And they gave 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 our ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, flag-waving and tears
We sailed off to Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water.
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he primed himself well,
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell,
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
But the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As we stopped to bury our slain.
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

Now those that 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,
But around me, the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead.
Never knew there was worse things than dying.
For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free,
To hump tent 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 back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind and insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory.
And the old men marched slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war,
And the young people ask,"What are they marching for?",
And I ask meself the same question.
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the old men still answer the call.
But as year follows year, more old men disappear,
Someday no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?

Good on ya Australia and God bless and keep all your fighting men in Iraq safe. If you want to download The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - I would recommend either the version by the Pogues or by the Clancy Brothers.