Album: Waltzing Matilda (1895)

• Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong
  Under the shade of a Coolabah tree
  And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
  "Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
  
  Down come a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
  Up jumped a swagman and grabbed him in glee
  And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
  "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me'".
  
  Up rode the Squatter a riding his thoroughbred
  Up rode the Trooper - one, two, three
  "Where's that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
  "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me"
  
  But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
  Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
  And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
  "Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?" Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 9

• Dumbass from SydneyGreatest song of all time don’t listen to the haters Matilda I know you weren’t doing anything bad to that sheep!!!
• Nik from Great SouthernIt's a tragic song about class warfare. It epitomises how a sheep is worth more than a man to the land owning class who could legally still shoot aboriginals as vermin by legal definiton with total.impunity if they " trespassed " onto a graziers land right up until pre ww2
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 12th 1960, "Waltzing Matilda" by Jimmie Rodgers entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peak at #41 and spent 8 weeks on the Top 100...
  The record's A-side, "Tender Love and Care (T.L.C.)" also chanted, it reached #24 and stayed on the Top 100 for 10 weeks.
• Aussie from Blue Mountains , AustraliaErrata and addendum
  
  The words to the song were written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson, a famous Australian poet, and the music was written (based on a folk tune) by Christina Macpherson,
  
  
  Aussie
• Aussie from Blue Mountains , AustraliaA. B. Patterson is far better known by his pen name 'Banjo Patterson"
• Aussie from Blue Mountains , AustraliaG'day Folks
  
  I hate to tell you but Waltzing Matilda isn't a traditional song It was written by The great Australian Bush Poet Andrew Barton Patterson witrh a melody contributed by Marie Gowan (which is said to have owed a lot to a traditional Irish Melody)
  
  So the entry shoyuld read Patterson / Gowan
  
  Aussie Swagman
• John from Fort Worth, TxI learned this song when I was 9 and 10 years in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The lyrics we learned, as I remember them, were very different. Only now, I have leard a shade or two of the original poetry of this song. The melody is hauntingly beautiful. I also remember hearing when I was kid that many Australians were pushing for this song to be the Australian National Anthem. In my ignorance, I did not know till just now that "Advance Australia Fair" is still the anthem.
  Greetings from a US citizen to our friendly neighbors in Australia, Tazmania and New Zeeland.
  John Martin, 46
• Ashlee from Hobartalot of people think that it isn't just about stealing a sheep but something more ie buggery/beastiality
• Max from Karratha, AustraliaA lot of people have said they want this to replace 'Advance Australia Fair', but I don't think it really fits. Yes, its a true blue Aussie song, but it isn't really about a nation. I personally think we should keep AAF, but change the tune to that of Jimmy Barnes 'Work Class Man' (It's been done before, and it works beautifully)
  
  Its a story about the homeless (swagman), stealing (steals a sheep), animal cruelty (stuffs said sheep into a swag) and suicide (swagman drowns himself)
  
  FYI- Matilda is the name for a swag- to waltz her is to go walkabout with a swag.

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