OK, since this is General Chit Chat........... I love folk music and I can think of no better piece of folk music than Waltzing Matilda. But it makes me wonder how this song is perceived in Australia. So, with your kind indulgence, a few questions.....
Does most everybody in Oz know the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda?
Does the story within the song have any special significance to you? To Australians in general?
How would you describe the use of the song? It's a drinking song. It's a quasi national anthem. It's just a song.
What do you think of when you hear Waltzing Matilda?
And anything else you might wish to add would be appreciated.
Does most everybody in Oz know the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda? CAN'T ANSWER FOR ALL BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER NOT KNOWING IT.
Does the story within the song have any special significance to you? To Australians in general? NO REAL SIGNIFICANCE TO ME EXCEPT THAT I IDENTIFY IT AS UNIQUELY AUSTRALIAN.
How would you describe the use of the song? It's a drinking song. It's a quasi national anthem. It's just a song. QUASI NATIONAL.
What do you think of when you hear Waltzing Matilda? HMM, MAYBE I THINK OF GUM TREES AND SMALL OUTBACK RIVERS, CAN'T REALY SAY THAT I THINK OF ANYTHING DEFINITE BUT IT DOES GET ME FEELING THAT IT'S GOOD TO BE AN AUSIE
Not yelling just trying to make the answers stand out from the questions.
It makes me feel a bit like when I hear the last post on Anzac day sorta proud and humble at the same time.
I dream of a day when a chicken can cross a road without being asked for it's motive!
every body knows the chorus, most people would know the words with backing vocals, I dont think most people would be able to sing it on their own.
I dont think the story has any significance
Its a patriotism song, mainly used at sporting events, especially international rugby. The #1 drinking song/quasi national anthem is khe sanh, misheard lyrics included. we leaving our hearts to the salvos and flying on trains from sydney to hong kong cos we're stupid aussies and we cant see that that would be absurd.
Its usually played at the slow speed as a singalong. If you're at a bush dance its faster, more irish reel tempo, as is most ye olde time australian folk. Cos back in the days we were mostly irish. Irish convicts or Irish refugees fleeing the bastard english.
Its a bit sappy but True Blue, by John WIlliamson is another quazi anthem. Lets face it, anything is better than Advance Australia Fair. Personally I'd like to have We Cant Be Beaten by Rose Tattoo, but sadly its only fitting at swimming pools these days.
Peter Allen's 'I still call Australia home' smacks of so much hippocrasy (spelling?) that I can't even listen to it, he left the land of Oz and to my knowledge never came back, he lost all claims to call this land home. Now "I come from the land down under' realy gets me singing along.
I dream of a day when a chicken can cross a road without being asked for it's motive!
Andy answered the question
In 2000 I was driving across Death valley with a mate and the radio played Down under and we were singing so loud and crying I will always rememeber that moment of the trip.👍 My top Aussie 5
1/ Down under 2/ still call australia 3/ waltzing matilda 4/ Australiana 5/ Long way to the shop👍
There is something about Waltzing Matilda that tugs at Australian heart strings - not sure what it is. The story of a suicidal swagman! Banjo Patterson wrote the lyrics in 1895, when he was staying at the Dagworth homestead in QLD, as a tribute to the Great Shearers' Strike that had occurred in the area the previous year. The tune was based on a Celtic folk tune called The Craigeelee.
'Matilda' is not a person, but is the nickname for the swagman's bundle, his swag. 'Waltzing' is not the dance, but refers to the practice of travelling and working for different masters over a period of time, as carpenters often did. In fact Waltzing Matilda is not in 3/4 time - it isn't a waltz.
There is second version of Waltzing Matilda - the so-called QLD version - that uses a completely different tune and slightly different words ('leading the water bag'). That one is nowhere near as popular, although I do remember learning to play it on the recorder at school.
Waltzing Matilda was just a locally popular song until it was used by the Billy Tea company as an advertising jingle in 1910, after which it became nationally famous. In 1961 Jack O'Hagan wrote new lyrics to the traditional tune, and created a new song called 'God Bless Australia', intended as a possible new national anthem. Sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, the chorus went:
God bless Australia, Our land Australia,
Home of the Anzac, the strong and the free
It's our homeland, our own land,
To cherish for eternity,
God bless Australia, The land of the free.
One really emotional version (particularly around Anzac Day), is called 'When The Band Played Watzing Matilda' by Eric Bogle. It's about a WW1 veteran, crippled at Gallipoli, and his reflections on war and the march every Anzac Day. As year follows year, more old men disappear, soon no one will march there at all. And the band played Waltzing Matilda... I can't listen to it without getting a lump in my throat.
Think of how you feel when you first hear "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light....", and then you'll get the idea what it means. I think to most Australians, Waltzing Matilda means more than Advance Australia Fair due to it's passionate nature.
I know most of the song and it is primarily about 'stealing' which is a foundation of our foundation
how else did most of our forefathers want of arrival here..
fractal geometry; the inner most limits of mind altering abuse
squizy wrote:Think of how you feel when you first hear "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light....",
Hmm, I feel that it was a poem written by a guy who happened to be sitting on a British ship during the battle and who was on his way to beg the British for the release of certain wealthy Continental prisoners. I also feel that the tune was stolen from an old British drinking song.
Few icons stand up to close scrutiny!
At least "Waltzing Matilda" is honest bit of songwriting. It's also the official march of the 1st Division of the US Marine Corps. 🙂
It's interesting that The Star Spangled Banner is brought up. You are absolutely correct concerning the facts behind the origination of the song. Moreover, it is a very tough song to sing well. Even though it is traditionally played before sporting events, I doubt that most Americans know the complete lyrics. There is a movement afoot to replace it with America, the Beautiful or some other song. That will likely not happen, but it does give one an idea of how this song is received in the USA.
This is why I asked the questions about Waltzing Matilda in the first place. I wanted to know how you in Australia regarded the song. How it's accepted and played. If I'm going to sing it, I think I should know what it means to the people to whom it belongs.
