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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
16/09/2008
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08:27
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I was reading an old topic about Remembrance Day and Nandy of the Gigglepants posted this in 2004. Worth its own slot I think......
On the Remembrance Day theme, I thought I would contribute a song written by a Scot called Eric Bogle.
Eric is not well known over here,having lived in Australia for many years now.
For me this song/poem is a fair criticism of war, while still maintaining some respect and dignity for all those who had to take part in it.
I believe the song was written for Anzac Day, the Aussie Remembrance of the Great War.
It is written down here from memory, so there may be the odd word wrong, but I believe it is substantially correct as written.
"Lest We Forget" Andy.
AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA
When I was a young man I carried a pack
and I lived the wild life of a rover.
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915 the country said son,
it's time to stop rambling there's work to be done
so they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun
and they sent me away to the war.
And the band played waltzing Matilda,
as our ship sailed away from the quay,
amidst all the cheers, the flagwaving and tears,
they sent us to Gallipoli.
How well I remember that terrible day,
when our blood stained the sand and the water.
It was into that hell that they called Souvla Bay
we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was ready, he'd primed himself well
he rained us with bullets and shot us with shell --
In ten minutes flat, he blew us to hell,
nearly blew us back home to Australia.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
as we stopped to bury our slain,
we buried ours, the Turks buried theirs,
then we started all over again.
Those that were left, we still carried on
in a mad world of blood death and fire.
for five weary weeks I kept myself alive
while around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
and when I awoke in my hospital bed
and saw what it had done, then I wished I was dead - -
never knew there were worse things than dying.
For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda,
all around the green bush to the sea,
for to hump tents and pegs,
a man needs his legs
no more waltzing Matilda for me.
They collected the wounded,the crippled, the maimed
and they shipped us off back to Australia.
The armless, the legless,the blind, the insane,
those poor wounded heroes of Souvla.
And as we sailed in,to Cicular Quay,
I looked down at the place where my legs used to be - -
and thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
to weep and to mourn and to pity.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
as they carried us down the gangway,
nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
then they all turned their faces away.
So now every April I sit on my porch,
and I watch the parade pass before me.
I see my old comrades how proudly they march,
renewing old friends and past glories.
The old men they march past all stiff bent and sore
forgotten heroes from a forgotten war - - -
the young people ask "what are they marching for"
And I'm asking myself the same question.
But the band still plays Waltzing Matilda,
and the old men still answer the call,
year by year their numbers grow fewer,
soon 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 past the Billabong,
who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me - - - - -
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Cathy
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Posted - 16/09/2008 : 10:42
I've got goosebumps Stanely ... see, I can't even spell your name right.
All thru the fields and meadows gay .... Enjoy
Take Care...Cathy  |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 16/09/2008 : 17:41
Good isn't it.......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 16/09/2008 : 17:56
Various versions of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda can be heard here......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI
Eric Bogle's other well known song, Wille McBride/ Green Fields of France can be heard here by Liam Clancy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-OlpffDWw&feature=related
Nolic
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
softsuvner
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Posted - 16/09/2008 : 21:37
This is certainly a moving song, without it, the name of Suvla Bay would be virtiually unknown.
The problem I have is that it is not really a remotely accurate account of the Suvla landings in August 1915. The sentiments, and the emotion, really describe the Anzac landings at Ari Burnu in April 1915. This is the monumental cock-up of popular legend and the film "Gallipoli" (which was not entirerly accurate itself - but then it was financed partly by Rupert Murdoch! ). Ari Burnu became "Anzac Cove".
The Suvla Bay landings in August 1915 were a very different kind of cock-up, one where the landings were very lightly opposed and had every chance of success - until the fools in command decided to stop the advance and sit around until the Turks had re-inforced their dominent positions.
My Grandad and Great Uncle were both at Suvla Bay, and the regimental war-diaries make it very clear that they had a much easier time of it than those involved in the original landings in April 1915.
Of course songs, like plays and films, make their impact by giving the spirit rather than the bald facts. As the great film director John Ford said: "print the legend!"
Malcolm
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 17/09/2008 : 06:18
I sent it to one of my mentors Steve Constantine who knows a bit about colonial history and he reminded me that Thatcher refused to let the wounded participate in the Falklands victory parade. Some things never change...... he also added this:
'Do you know Henry Reynolds, The Other Side of the Frontier, first published 1981? He reckoned that at least 20,000 Aborigines died in frontier wars with settlers. 'All over the continent', he writes, 'Aborigines bled as profusely and died as bravely as white soldiers in Australia's twentieth century wars', and he laments that white Australians say all that should now be forgotten. '...And forgetfulness is a strange prescription coming from a community which has revered the fallen warrior and emblazoned the phrase "Lest We Forget" on monuments throughout the land.' I think I shall have to find the book......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
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Eric Bogle courtesy of Nandy in 2004
