[Editor: An early printing of the song “Waltzing Matilda” (written by Andrew Barton (“Banjo”) Paterson). Published in The Capricornian, 14 December 1901. Click here to see some videos of this song being played.]
A Popular Bush Song.
A bush poem entitled “Waltzing Matilda” is all the rage here just now, says the “N.Q. Herald,” and some clever fellow has managed to fit the quaint trifle with an exceedingly catchy air. “Waltzing Matilda,” it may be explained for the benefit of the uninitiated means the same thing as “Humping Bluey,” otherwise carrying a swag, and jumbuck, as most people are aware, means in blackfellow’s lingo a sheep. The music of the song has not been printed yet, but that omission will be rectified shortly.
Waltzing Matilda.
Once a jolly swagman camped on a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree;
And he sang as he watched his old billy boiling —
“You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.”
Chorus.
Waltzing Matilda, Matilda, my darling,
You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me;
And he sang as he watched his old billy boiling —
“You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.”
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the waterhole,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee;
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag —
“You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.”
Down came the squatter riding a thoroughbred,
Down came the p’licemen, one, two, and three,
Whose is the jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker bag?
“You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.”
Up jumped the swagman, sprang into the waterhole,
Drowning himself ’neath the coolibah tree;
And his ghost can be heard as he sings through the billabong —
“You’ll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.”
Source:
The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld.), 14 December 1901, p. 8
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