"Landing at Anzac" by Charles Dixon
"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"
I first heard this anti-war song in the mid-1970s. It was written by a Scottish-Australian fellow called Eric Bogle. The song tells a story of World War I. In Australia's collective memory, the name Gallipoli spells bitter tragedy for that is where 8709 young Australian troops were killed in the winter of 1915-16 and a further 28,150 suffered significant injuries. They were a long way from home fighting a war that arguably had very little to do with them.
Incidentally, whenever I hear the song I think of my brother Paul who played fiddle in a semi-professional band called Dingle Spike. It was on their one and only album - also called Dingle Spike. They should have toured Irish music venues on the east coast of America in 1978 but because Paul had once been a card carrying member of the British Communist Party, the tour had to be cancelled.
"Waltzing Matilda" is of course Australia's unofficial national anthem and it also oozes sorrow. I did not wish to copy and paste all of the lyrics of "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" but here at least are the opening lines followed by the song itself sung meaningfully by Vincent Fottroll in Dublin's fair city:-
When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my 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
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli...
I feel so silly but I've never realized that was an anti-war song.
ReplyDeleteI am just glad that you know now Mary.
DeleteOh yes, I know that song. The first movie I ever saw Mel Gibson in was the 1981 Australian film "Gallipoli." It's also where I first heard Albinoni's baroque masterpiece "Adagio in G minor," which was the musical soundtrack to the film's tragic conclusion.
ReplyDeleteChrist - you have a damned good memory Debra!
DeleteI cant hear or sing the song without bawling and I cant understand how anyone supports any war after hearing it.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I made you bawl again Kylie.
DeleteThe Dubliners' version will always be the best for me.
ReplyDeleteI listened to their version but felt that Vincent's version was more cutting and authentic.
DeleteTell us more about Paul's card-carrying Communism. Were you the Third man?
ReplyDeleteThere's not much to tell. As a young man, he had shown little interest in politics but in London he lived in a house that was home to several refugee members of the South African ANC and his new girlfriend was a communist so he joined too.
DeleteSo did he tell them about it, or did they know about it already?
DeleteI've never heard the whole song before so I listened and listened and suddenly I was crying, not for the old war, but for the current wars and the people who are suffering now, just as the soldiers did then.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Elsie - in a sense this song is about all wars.
DeletePosts like these make me realise how little I know about Australia.
ReplyDeleteOf course in England we tend to know a lot about Australia - given our close links.
DeleteChristy Dignam did a great version on The Late Late Show. It's on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI am going to check that out Dave. Thanks.
DeleteIt was a completely unnecessary war. It bankrupted Britain.
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught history, and we were studying World War I, we'd spend time on the Gallipoli Campaign. I found a slide show on the internet that I'd show the students about the war and the different battles. When the Gallipoli Campaign came up, the song "Waltzing Matilda" was in the background.
ReplyDeleteI should know more about this but I don't. Wars are so wasteful.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that my country, in its perpetual paranoia about communism, saw fit to cancel Paul's tour. I'm guessing this was probably not long after (or even during) anti-war protests related to Vietnam, which would have raised the government's suspicions about anyone who was going to sing an anti-war song! I had never even heard of Gallipoli until I saw Peter Weir's movie with Mel Gibson some time in the '90s. It's not something that's taught in American schools. (At least it wasn't to me.)
ReplyDeleteWhat grieves me so much about this video is the crowds of people passing by. These lyrics go right to the heart and I'm sure people aren't indifferent. But universally, we don't know how to change what has happened or is happening.
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
I haven't heard that for years. I wasn't enamoured by his presentation of the song. I am not sure if it is Vogel's version I prefer, or someone else's.
ReplyDelete