"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle, arr. Don Macdonald • Washington Men's Camerata

Soloist Zach Seid leads this riveting rendition of Eric Bogle's (b. 1944) recreation of the beloved Australian ballad “Waltzing Matilda” by Banjo Paterson. Arranged for tenor and bass by Don Macdonald. Washington Men's Camerata directed by Scott Tucker in "The Dawn of Peace" concert, 2024.
When I was a young man, I carried a pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray’s green banks to the dusty outback,
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said “Son,
there’s no time for rovin’ there’s work to be done,”
And they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war.
And the band played Waltzin’ Matilda
As our ship pulled away from the quay;
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
we sailed off for Gallipoli.
Well I remember that terrible day
when our blood stained the sand and the water.
And how in the hell that they called ‘Suvla Bay’
we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin’, he’d primed himself well,
he showered us with bullets and rained us with shells;
And in ten minutes flat, he’d blown us to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
And the band played Waltzing Matilda.
As we stopped to bury the slain.
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.
They collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimed.
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the armless, the blind, and insane;
All the brave wounded heroes of Suvla.
And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay,
And I looked at the place where my legs used to be,
I thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
And then turned their faces away.
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 glories.
But the old men march slowly, their bones stiff and sore,
Tired old men from a tired old war.
And the young people ask, “What are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question,
But the band played Waltzing Matilda;
And the old men they answer the call.
But year by year, those old men disappear.
Soon no one will march there at all.
Who’ll go a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Washington Men's Camerata, directed by Scott Tucker, is DC's premier chorus performing, promoting, and preserving diverse tenor and bass choral music and camaraderie since 1984. The Camerata has performed at The Kennedy Center, The White House, Smithsonian institutions, National Gallery of Art, Wolf Trap, Strathmore, and across the region; alongside National Symphony Orchestra, The U.S. Army Chorus, Washington Symphonic Brass, Mark Morris Dance Group, Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia, and on NPR, PBS, and SiriusXM. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Camerata has recorded six albums and regularly commissions and premieres pieces, part of a national lending library of sheet music, The Demetrius Project, with over 200,000 scores of 3,300 works. www.camerata.com/