Slim Dusty - Matilda No More lyrics

rate me

Once Jolly swagmen went humpin their swags

And stuffed jolly jumbucks in their tuckerbags

These days jolly junkies go on bag snatchin jags

And steal to buy the poison they need

The old swaggie just wanted a feed

And wholl come a waltzing Matilda with me

Oh Banjo this countrys not what it used to be

we've changed all your words and rewritten your score

Now it's waltzing Matilda no more

Once Henry and Mary on a warm afternoon

Rode down a reedy river to the broad bright lagoon

The song of the river is a long vanished tune

Since they built the uranium mine

what's just left now is just toxic slime

And wholl come a waltzing Matilda with me

Oh Henry this countrys not what it used to be

Days pass with a whimper and not with the roar

And it's waltzing Matilda no more

We cut down the trees and the land we reclaimed

We ploughed and we planted then we ploughed once again

And again and again and again and again

So now on a hot windy day

We can watch our topsoil blown away

And wholl come a waltzing Matilda with me

The desert is marching down to the sea

On the day that it stretches from shore to far shore

Well go waltzing Matilda no more

Saturday night outside a Kings Cross hotel

Kids with hard drugs and soft bodies to sell

Australia these children are halfway to hell

Oh is this the best deal you can give?

Well I find that hard to believe

And wholl come a waltzing Matilda with me

Hey ANZAC is this what you fought to keep free?

A land fit for heroes or homeless and poor

And it's waltzing Matilda no more

And wholl come a waltzing Matilda with me

This country could still be what we want it to be

With care and compassion the dream well restore

And well go waltzing Matilda once more, yeah

Well go waltzing Matilda once more

[From the CD Looking Forward, Looking Back July, 2000

Barcoo Bill]