The Pogues - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Ukulele

***Waltzing Matilda - Axxchor

An alteration of a version by Eric Bogle. This version should match the 
arpeggiated chords the banjo plays in the album version of "The Band Played 
Waltzing Matilda" by The Pogues. 

Waltzing Matilda - as perfomed by The Pogues

Intro: C C C
             F            C
When I was a young man, I carried my pack.
                     G          C
And I lived the free life, of a rover.
                         G
       F     C
To the dusty outback,
             G           C
I waltzed my matilda all over.
        G        F            C
Then in 1915, my country said "son"
       G           
"It's time to stop rambling,"
             F	        C
"Cos there's work to be done."
                  F
So they gave me a tin hat,
         C        
And they gave me a gun,
                 G            C
And they sent me away to the war.


                    F        C
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
             F             G
As we sailed away from the quay.
    F
And amidst all the tears,
         C
And the shouts and the cheers,
                  G      C
We sailed off for Galipoli


           F             C
How well I remember that terrible day,
                           G            C
when the blood stained the sand and the water.
                G            
And how in that hell
          F		C
that they called Souvla Bay
                       G            C
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
       G                     	F	       C
Johnny Turk, he was ready, He'd primed himself well.
   G                
He showered us with bullets,
       F	      C
And he rained us with shells.
                    F
And in five minutes flat,
           C
he'd blown us all to hell.
                     G       C
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

                    F        C
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
                          G
As we stopped to bury our slain.
    F
And we buried ours
        C
and the Turks buried theirs,
                   G    C
And it started all over again.

                   F                 C
Now those who were living, Did their best to survive,
                     G                C
In that mad world of guts, blood, and fire.
                   G          
And for seven long weeks,
  F	      C
I kept myself alive,
                 G             C
As the corpses around me piled higher.
       G                             F         C
Then a big Turkish shell, Knocked me arse over tit.
    G      
And when I awoke
        F      C
in my hospital bed,
                    F
And saw what it had done,
         C
Christ I wished I was dead.
                      G                 C
Never knew there were worse things than dying.

                    F        C
And no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda,
                               G
To the green bushes so far and near.
       F
For to hang tent and pegs
  C
A man needs two legs.
                    G        C
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.

                      F             C
So they collected the crippled, The wounded and maimed,
                         G       C
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
                 G
The legless, the armless,
    F		C
the blind and insane.
                    G         C
Those proud wounded heroes of Souvla
    G                       F	     C
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
  G             
I looked at the place
          F	      C
where my legs used to be.
                            F
And thank Christ, there was nobody
C
waiting for me,
                 G            C
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.

                    F        C
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
                                G
As they carried us down the gangway.
    F
But nobody cheered,
     C
They just stood and stared,
                      G     C
And they turned their faces away.

              F        C
And now every April, I sit on my porch,
                G            C
And I watch the parades pass before me.
             G          
I see my old comrades,
    F	         C
How proudly they march.
             G              C
Reliving the dreams of past glory.
  G                     F          C
I see the old men, all twisted and torn.
    G         
The forgotten heroes
     F         C
of a forgotten war.
                     F
And the young people ask me,
         C
What are they marching for?
               G           C
And I ask my self the same question.

                   F        C
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
                                 G
And the old men still answer the call.
    F
But year after year,
      C
Their numbers get fewer,
                    G              C
Someday no-one will march there at all.

C                 F
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
C                                   G
Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?

Outro:  C C G C