Waltzing Matilda
Australia's most beloved folk song — the swagman, the jumbuck and the billabong
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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Down came a jumbuck to drink beside the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and seized him with glee,
And he sang as he tucked jumbuck in his tuckerbag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Down came the stockman, riding on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three!
"Where's the jolly jumbuck you've got in your tuckerbag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Up jumped the swagman and plunged into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me alive!" cried he,
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most famous folk song, written in 1895 by the bush poet Banjo Paterson with a melody adapted by Christina Macpherson from a Scottish march. The title refers not to a woman named Matilda but to the practice of "waltzing" — carrying — a "matilda," a bundle of possessions slung over a swagman's back. A swagman was an itinerant labourer travelling the outback in search of work.
The song tells the story of a swagman who steals a sheep (a jumbuck) from a billabong, is confronted by the landowner (the squatter) and mounted troopers, and chooses to drown himself rather than be captured. His ghost remains by the billabong, still singing. It is a strange and melancholy story to have become a national anthem equivalent — more popular, according to many surveys, than the actual Australian national anthem — but its combination of bush imagery, defiant individualism and ghostly ending gives it an unmistakable character.
This recording gives the song a rock arrangement with energy to match the swagman's bold stubbornness.
