And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda is a ballad-like Australian folk song written in 1971 by Eric Bogle .
The anti-war song is about a young Australian soldier who took part in the Battle of Gallipoli on the Dardanelles against the Central Powers and the Ottoman Empire during World War I in 1915, where he experienced the atrocities of war first hand and became disabled as a result of war .
The song title refers to Waltzing Matilda , Australia's best-known folk song, which is considered the unofficial Australian anthem and was therefore probably played by the army bands on the way to Gallipoli .
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At the beginning, a young AIF or ANZAC soldier describes that he is reporting for military service and will be sent to Gallipoli. When the ship casts off, the orchestra Waltzing Matilda plays . Then the horrors of war itself, particularly World War I and the Battle of Gallipoli, are described. The young soldier finds himself in a completely unbounded excessive violence scenario and describes it as "mad world of blood, death and fire" (English: crazy world of blood, death and fire). As a war disabled, he then returns to Australia to show the moral of the song on the last question: In view of the military parade on ANZAC Day , young people ask him what is actually being marched here for; and he is now asking himself this question too.
Performers
The best-known versions are likely to include those by Joan Baez and the Irish bands The Dubliners , Tommy Makem and The Pogues .
The East German folk band Folkländer translated this song into German and created their own version in the Vogtland dialect.
Interesting and trivia
- For a short part of the song, Bogle quotes the text and melody of Waltzing Matilda .
- In the second stanza, Bogle speaks of the landing in Suvla Bay . The landing at Suvla was carried out by British soldiers alone. Bogle himself explained it by saying that most Australians would associate Suvla with Gallipoli and that the word would have made it easier for him to figure it out. In fact, the center of the activities of the Australian troops was in the now so-called "ANZAC Cove " south of Suvla on the west coast of the Gallipoli peninsula (see picture above).
- The line “they gave me a tin hat” is an anachronism , as the British so-called Brodie helmets were not used at Gallipoli.
- Waltzing Matilda has nothing to do with dancing: "Waltzing" can (as in German) also correspond to the term "walzen" , ie "to be on the move", and as "Matilda" a certain type of shoulder bag was developed in Australia in the 19th century designated. "No more waltzing Matilda for me" does not mean: "I will never dance with Matilda again", but rather "I will never go hiking again". See article Waltzing Matilda .