AND THE BAND PLAYED
WALTZING MATILDA
‘And the band played Waltzing Matilda,’ is a song that describes the futile and gruesome aspects of war, it also criticises those who seek and see glory in it. The song was written by an Australian singer, Eric Bogle in 1971.
It is about a very young Australian soldier who is sent off to war in Gallipoli, this is how the song begins.
The song begins with the line ‘when I was a young man, I carried my pack, and I lived thee free life of a rover. This line describes how he was a young Australian man with no worries in the world. A few lines later, it states ‘then in 1915, my country man said, its time you stop rambling, there’s work to be done.’ 1915 was the year that WW1 began, and his country man is referring to his dad. The statement ‘there’s work to be done’ means that the war has begun and he must go off and defend / fight for his country.
‘So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war’ is the part of the song that says the young soldier is going off to war, we know this because he is given a tin hat and is sent away.
The next verse of the song talks about the extremely young Australian soldiers leaving the safe and protected coast line of Australia for their long journey to Gallipoli. The poem talks about the cheers, the flag waving and the tears shed by the soldiers. Many of the young men going off to war did not know what they had signed themselves up to. Many of them just saw it as an opportunity to travel. This is what resulted in the number of extreme casualties which occurred on the first day of Gallipoli WW1. The song states ‘I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water,’ the terrible day is referring to the landing of Gallipoli, where the Australian soldiers were so unprepared. ‘Our’ meaning the Australians soldiers, blood is described to be stained on the sand and in the water.
‘And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ is an extremely sad and emotional song that tells the audience how violent and terrifying World War 1 was.
It is about a very young Australian soldier who is sent off to war in Gallipoli, this is how the song begins.
The song begins with the line ‘when I was a young man, I carried my pack, and I lived thee free life of a rover. This line describes how he was a young Australian man with no worries in the world. A few lines later, it states ‘then in 1915, my country man said, its time you stop rambling, there’s work to be done.’ 1915 was the year that WW1 began, and his country man is referring to his dad. The statement ‘there’s work to be done’ means that the war has begun and he must go off and defend / fight for his country.
‘So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war’ is the part of the song that says the young soldier is going off to war, we know this because he is given a tin hat and is sent away.
The next verse of the song talks about the extremely young Australian soldiers leaving the safe and protected coast line of Australia for their long journey to Gallipoli. The poem talks about the cheers, the flag waving and the tears shed by the soldiers. Many of the young men going off to war did not know what they had signed themselves up to. Many of them just saw it as an opportunity to travel. This is what resulted in the number of extreme casualties which occurred on the first day of Gallipoli WW1. The song states ‘I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water,’ the terrible day is referring to the landing of Gallipoli, where the Australian soldiers were so unprepared. ‘Our’ meaning the Australians soldiers, blood is described to be stained on the sand and in the water.
‘And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ is an extremely sad and emotional song that tells the audience how violent and terrifying World War 1 was.