Just before our love got lost you said I am as constant as a northern star And I said, constant in the darkness
Lyrics
Just before our love got lost you said “I am as constant as a northern star” And I said, “Constantly in the darkness Where’s that at? If you want me I’ll be in the bar”
On the back of a cartoon coaster In the blue TV screen light I drew a map of Canada Oh, Canada With your face sketched on it twice
Oh, you’re in my blood like holy wine You taste so bitter and so sweet Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling And I would still be on my feet Oh, I would still be on my feet
Oh, I am a lonely painter I live in a box of paints I’m frightened by the devil And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid
I remember that time you told me You said, “Love is touching souls” Surely you touched mine ‘Cause part of you pours out of me In these lines from time to time
Oh, you’re in my blood like holy wine You taste so bitter and so sweet Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling Still I’d be on my feet I would still be on my feet
I met a woman She had a mouth like yours She knew your life She knew your devils and your deeds And she said, “Go to him, stay with him if you can But be prepared to bleed”
Oh, but you are in my blood You’re my holy wine You’re so bitter Bitter and so sweet Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling Still I’d be on my feet I would still be on my feet
Now 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 Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in 1915, my country said “son It’s time you stopped rambling, there’s work to be done” So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun And they marched me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda As the ship pulled away from the quay And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears We sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day How our blood stained the sand and the water And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter Johnny Turk, he was waiting, he’d primed himself well He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shell And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda When we stopped to bury our slain We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs Then we started all over again
And those that were left, well we tried to survive In that mad world of blood, death and fire And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive Though around me the corpses piled higher Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head And when I woke up in me hospital bed And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead Never knew there was worse things than dyin’
For I’ll go no more waltzing Matilda All around the green bush far and free To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs No more waltzing Matilda for me
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where me legs used to be And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve, to mourn, and to pity
But the band played Waltzing Matilda As they carried us down the gangway But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared Then they turned all their faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch And I watch the parades pass before me And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march Reviving old dreams of past glories And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask, “what are they marching for?” And I ask myself the same question
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda And the old men still answer the call But as year follows year, more old men disappear Someday no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard As they march by that billabong Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Now 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 Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in 1915, my country said “son It’s time you stopped rambling, there’s work to be done” So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun And they marched me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda As the ship pulled away from the quay And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears We sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day How our blood stained the sand and the water And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter Johnny Turk, he was waiting, he’d primed himself well He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shell And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda When we stopped to bury our slain We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs Then we started all over again
And those that were left, well we tried to survive In that mad world of blood, death and fire And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive Though around me the corpses piled higher Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head And when I woke up in me hospital bed And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead Never knew there was worse things than dyin’
For I’ll go no more waltzing Matilda All around the green bush far and free To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs No more waltzing Matilda for me
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where me legs used to be And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve, to mourn, and to pity
But the band played Waltzing Matilda As they carried us down the gangway But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared Then they turned all their faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch And I watch the parades pass before me And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march Reviving old dreams of past glories And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask, “what are they marching for?” And I ask myself the same question
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda And the old men still answer the call But as year follows year, more old men disappear Someday no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard As they march by that billabong Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
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