Waltzing Matilda
The secret Nationalsong of Australia by Andrew "Banjo" Paterson including the music script:
| Matilda: | named by the rolled up bedspread |
| Billabong: | kind of lake without waterexchange |
| Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong/ |
| Under the shade of a coolibah tree,/ |
| And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,/ |
| "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!" |
| "Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,/ |
| You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!" |
| And he sang... |
| Oh, up came a jumbuck and he drank at the billabong,/ |
| Up jumped the sangman and he grabbed him with glee,/ |
| And he sang as shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,/ |
| "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!" |
| Well up came the squatter and he's mounted on his thoroughbred,/ |
| Up came the troopers, one, two, three./ |
| "Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag? |
| You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!" |
| Up jumped the swagman and lept into the billabong,/ |
| "You'll never catch me alive!" said he./ |
| And his ghost may be heard as you pass by this billabong./ |
| "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!" |
The poet Dichter Andrew "Banjo" Paterson wrote "Waltzing Matilda" in 1895. "Banjo" was his nickname, in real his name was Andrew Barton Paterson. He lived from 1864 till 1941. Here you can see his notes while writing Waltzing Matilda.
A memorial will remeber Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson:
Wuppertal, February 1998 / Update: June 2003