Just another music thread.

... & now you've given me a perfect excuse to post this (speaking of Waltzing Matilda & lumps in the throat ... )

This is just about the most powerful & moving (& quite beautiful) song about the futility of war I know of ..... written & sung by a Scottish-Australian musician, Eric Bogle.:



And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty Outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 1915 me 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 sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli


And how well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready, he'd primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us back home to Australia

And 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
While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead
Never knew there was worse things than dying

So no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
To hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they gathered the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve, and to mourn, and to pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

So now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams of past glory

And the old men march slowly, all 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

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year the numbers get fewer
Some day 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 the Billabong
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me

lol Hollywood had a way of jerking the tears out of one's eyes as well
asputting a lump in your throat in using Waltzing Matilda as theme music
in On The Beach, which was when I first head the tune. Ignorant me at the time assumed it was
a Hollywood composition. Got radio time vocally, too as part of thecustomary movie hype.

Someone will have to find a jovial version of the song ....
This is getting rather serious!

Interesting blast from the past, neko.
Did you know that the city that featured in that film was Melbourne? (where I live)
Ava Gardner was famously quoted as saying it was the perfect location for the last place on earth.
(It's picked up quite a bit since then. )

The movie deserves its obscurity, but I
associate the song with it.

Now for a more topical song title.

This view, taken just this morning, links
to my song for the day. Go ahead, click on it:

Where is Miss Molly in that photograph, neko?
I've been looking & looking .....

Played this soundtrack a lot years ago. Liked it a lot.
Strangely enough I've never seen the film.

1900 Yesterday had too little
airtime when it came out around 1964 or 65, I think. Its style may have been a bit anachronistic, given the times.

Here's an upbeat little nothing song to brighten your morning, MsOlga.

Thanks, neko.
About half-way through that clip you'll see a tuxedo cat who's the splitting image of my cat, Poppy.

A little bit of Colin Hay:

Last one.:

The weather here's been dark and gloomy all day: click on this view for today's mood. Wish there was a way to link to just the tune - without any image.

Hope it's brighter over your way.

Heard this for the first time in ages on the car radio this afternoon.
I'd forgotten how good it was!
Put yer dancing shoes on!

Was listening to some Supertramp on Rocky's thread earlier on... which inspired me to find more on YouTube.
These two made me smile.:

I haven't hard a chance to have much of a listen yet. (Big Nick Cave fan here.)

I'm posting this in case anyone else here might be interested.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/20/grinderman-nick-cave-2-rmx-stream

g'day msO...

inxs?

G'day to you, Rocky.

Thanks for that. Enjoyed it.
Had a bit of a dance around the kitchen as I was chopping up vegies!