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"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia 's most widely known Song and one that has been popularly suggested as a potential National Anthem many times. The song is well-known and strongly associated with Australia outside the country as well, to the point where it has become a Metonym . The lyrics to the song were written in 1895 by the poet and nationalist Banjo Paterson , who originally set them to a slightly different tune. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that the song has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre of Winton, Queensland . There have long been persistent calls for the establishment of ''Waltzing Matilda'' as the national anthem over the current national anthem, " Advance Australia Fair ". The song is certainly easily recognisable and easily sung, but its lyrics, relating the story of a Swagman who steals a sheep and drowns himself when law enforcement arrives, render it unlikely to ever gain acceptance in official circles. Many Australians, however, continue to regard it with great favour and sentimentality. Some have suggested using the same tune but with different lyrics, but supporters argue the lyrics contribute substantially to the song's character. It enjoyed a brief period of official recognition as the Australian National Song (coexisting with " Advance Australia Fair " as the National Anthem). It was used at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976 , and, as a response to the New Zealand All Blacks Haka , it has gained popularity as a sporting anthem for the Australian Rugby Union Team. It is also performed, along with Advance Australia Fair , at the annual AFL Grand Final. As Of 2004 it has no official status, but it continues to be used unofficially (and sometimes in error) in many contexts. It was also performed at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney by Slim Dusty as well as at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 by Rolf Harris . "''Waltzing Matilda''" has been recorded by many Australian musicians and singers, including by The Seekers (with Athol Guy , Bruce Woodley , Keith Potger and Judith Durham ), as well as Tenor Australis , Thomas Edmonds and Rolf Harris . Bands from other nations, including Ireland's Irish Rovers, have also recorded the song. LYRICS
The words unfamiliar to non-Australians are: ; ; a swagman is a romanticised figure who travelled the country looking for work, usually sporting a hat hung with Cork to ward off flies. The swagman's " Swag " was his bundle of belongings. ; waltzing : derived from the German term '''', which means to travel while working as a Craftsman and learn new techniques from other masters before returning home after three years and one day, a custom which is still in use today among carpenters. ; Matilda : a romantic term for a swagman's bundle. See below, "Waltzing Matilda." ; Waltzing Matilda : from the above terms, "to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag, that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or cloth. The exact origins of the term "Matilda" are disputed; one fanciful derivation states that when swagmen met each other at their gatherings, there were rarely women to dance with. Nonetheless, they enjoyed a dance, and so they danced with their swags, which was given a woman's name. However, this appears to be influenced by the word "waltz", hence the introduction of dancing. It seems more likely that, as a swagman's only companion, the swag came to be personified as a woman. ; Billabong : a stagnant pool found along the side of a river where eddies and directional changes of the water keep it from moving. ; coolibah tree : a kind of Eucalyptus which grows near billabongs. ; jumbuck : a sheep. A "jombok" is a large, fluffy cloud that drifts across inland Australia. The Indigenous Australians , when they saw sheep for the first time, were reminded of jomboks and called them a similar word. An alternative explanation is that it is an Aboriginally pronounced "jump up." ; s. ; tucker bag : a bag for carrying food (" Tucker ") in. ; troopers : policemen. Variations Other current variations include the third line of the chorus constantly saying "And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong" or "And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled". The lyrics of Banjo Paterson's original version differ slightly from the ones generally known today. The first verse originally ran like this:
An even earlier version used the term "A-roving Australia" rather than "waltzing matilda". However, he was talked out of using this. A parody can be found here . HISTORY The song was written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson , a famous Australian poet, and the music written (or possibly adapted) by Christina MacPherson. Banjo Paterson wrote the piece while staying at the Dagworth Homestead, a bush station in Queensland . While he was there his hosts played him a traditional Celtic folktune called the Craigeelee, and Paterson decided that it would be a good piece to set lyrics to, producing the song during the rest of his stay. The tune is most probably based on the Scottish song "Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea" which Christina MacPherson heard played by a band at the Warrnambool steeplechase. Robert Tannahill wrote the words in 1805 and James Barr composed the music in 1818 . In 1893 it was arranged for Brass Band by Thomas Bulch . The tune again was possibly based on the old melody of "Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself" composed by John Field (1782-1837) some time before 1812 . It's sometimes also called: "When Sick is it Tea you want?" (London 1798) or "The Penniless Traveller" (O'Neill's 1850 collection). There is also speculation about the relationship it bears to "The Bold Fusilier", a song dated by some back to the eighteenth century. "Waltzing Matilda" is probably based on the following story: :In September 1894 , on a station called Dagworth (north of Winton), some shearers were in a strike that turned violent. The strikers fired off their rifles and pistols in the air and then set fire to the woolshed at the Dagworth Homestead, killing dozens of sheep. :The owner of Dagworth Homestead and three policemen gave chase to a man named Samuel Hoffmeister - also called Samuel "French(y)" Hoffmeister. Rather than be captured, Hoffmeister shot and killed himself at the Combo Waterhole . Bob Macpherson (the brother of Christina) and Banjo are said to have taken rides together at Dagworth. Here they may have passed the Combo Waterhole , where Bob may have told this story to Banjo. The song itself was first performed on 6 April 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland . The occasion was a banquet for the Premier Of Queensland . It became an instant success. In 1903 it was picked up by the Billy Tea company for use as an advertising jingle, making it nationally famous. A third variation on the song, with a slightly different chorus, was published in 1907 . Paterson sold the rights to Waltzing Matilda and "some other pieces" to Angus And Robertson Publishers for "five quid" (a "quid" is Australian slang for a pound, the then unit of currency). The song was falsely copyrighted by an American publisher in 1941 as an original composition. However, no copyright applies in Australia. The song has been covered by a number of Australian artists over the years, notably Lazy Harry . In 1958, Bill Haley And His Comets recorded a version with new lyrics entitled "Rockin' Matilda" (Haley's version is about a beautiful Australian girl named Matilda). The score of the 1959 film '' On The Beach '', written by Ernest Gold is based heavily on motifs from "Waltzing Matilda". The film, about the end of the world in a nuclear holocaust, is set in Australia and director Stanley Kramer was insistent on the "Waltzing Matilda" motif. The song itself is heard in the last minutes of ''On the Beach''. A derivative work, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda , was created by Eric Bogle in 1972 , and performed most popularly by The Pogues on the album '' Rum Sodomy & The Lash ''. The song graphically documents the Australian experience at the Battle Of Gallipoli and ANZAC Day remembrance since, from the point of view of a soldier who loses both legs in the fighting. The song incorporates the melody and a few lines of the "Waltzing Matilda's" lyrics at its conclusion. The American singer Tom Waits combined "Waltzing Matilda" with original material in "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)", the first track of his 1976 album '' Small Change ''. In 2003 the Scared Weird Little Guys released "Cleanin' Out My Tuckerbag", an interpretation of the song in the vein of Eminem 's "Cleanin' Out My Closet". SEE ALSO And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda EXTERNAL LINKS
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