Waltzing Matilda Lyrics

By Gigi Fox

[@moatguy]

These are the meanings to the Australian slang words in the song for people watching this overseas who don't know them. Swagman: A man who travels the country on foot with a bag and bundle or "swag" on his back. Billabong: An Australian waterhole. The word comes from an Aboriginal(The Aborigines are the first people who came to Australia thousands of years ago.)word for billabongs meaning "dead river" which comes from the fact that a billabong like all waterholes is still and doesn't flow. Coolibah Tree: A type of gum tree or eucalyptus tree that grows along rivers and billabongs. Billy(Or billycan):A tin bucket like can used for boiling tea in the bush first used by Aborigines. Waltzing Matilda: "Waltzing" is a word for walking. "Matilda" is a name the swagman refers to the "swag" he carries on his back. Jumbuck: A sheep. The word comes from an Aboriginal word "Jombock" meaning "clouds." Tucker bag: "Tucker" is an Aboriginal word for food which is well used for food in Australia. So a tucker bag is a bag used mostly for carrying tucker or food in which is mostly used by people while traveling in the bush. Squatter: An Australian sheep and cattle station owner. Thorough-bred: An Australian stock horse.(Also used for horses in America.) Troopers: Policemen. The word used to be used for policemen in the old days but today is mostly only used for the policeman in this song. This is because troopers were policemen in the old days that also worked in the army which policemen don't do any more.

[@dennisroyhall121]

moa

[@ih8pcsinboca]

Thanks for that moatguy.

[@Piankhi_the_Greater]

Thanks!

[@puffy3958]

Thanks I now know some new words!😁

[@italia689]

We in the U.S. still use the word "troopers" to mean state police (rather than local city police).

[@coreysmith8966]

I'm from the U.S. and I'm now 100% convinced Australian is its own language.

[@heyJ4de]

Confirmed

[@eloisegentle8125]

@CoreySmith ok I will help, a billabong is a pool of deep water previously part of a river, waltzing Matilda is when your back pack is moving around, a thorough bred is a sheep, a tucker bag is a bag that holds food , a swagman is kind of a hobo, a billy is a pot that you cook things in it can even do tea! YOUR WELCOME

[@serenahwhittle6541]

Yeah we di have our own language... basically.

[@thebandit6123]

Corey Smith yeah it isn

[@alisonpolvoreda5137]

Serenah Whittle 😇

[@whysosyria1]

May you please rise for the Australian national anthem.

[@EnduringFoliage]

It almost was, and it honestly should be

[@zuhalcaliskan8076]

Its not official

[@hoop6988]

@@zuhalcaliskan8076 yes it is

[@damiencerutti6269]

Yes

[@lawrencedewan9838]

God Bless!

[@wesleymccurtain166]

I'm from the USA and we learned this song in grade school.

[@Dantheman721]

+Wojtek Mlotkowski Thats amazing

[@SamiPuma]

+wesley mccurtain dude me too!

[@jakobminecraft8186]

me to I learned in music class and I'm in 3rd grade so yeah

[@harrisonjay1139]

that so cool because le learnt a American song to

[@eloisegentle8125]

wesley mccurtain in America you guys learn this! You guys are so lucky in Australia you don't learn good songs like this in school we learn them in the car with your grandad or your dad.

[@lillyr9289]

i am Australian and have known this song for as long as i can remember

[@Kairi091]

Do you suppose most Aussie kids know this tune? Like, how an American kid probably knows Twinkle Twinkle or Mary Had a Little Lamb?

[@lillyr9289]

i say that alot would know the tune

[@michaelchiodo3771]

How long

[@ravengirl7303]

Lilly R my mum and sister and my entire family ( including me) would sing it together at the end of a hot, 49° degree summer day, with a cool bear ( or a can of coke) it's the best

[@DarkTider]

A bit ashamed to admit it, but actually first met this song as the Rod Stewart version, though I did love it right away as a kid :D

[@fritzmoy101]

My brother got me an antique compass from Australia this Christmas and on the inside of it's lid the name and lyrics of this song was etched into it, I've been listening to this song almost every day since. Had never heard it before, but I love it

[@langutaninwamba9668]

I sung in this song in Primary School,Circa 1998, South Africa, must have been in Grade 3. I still recognise it, although I did not understand or comprehend the lyrics (the hobo who stole a sheep and commits suicide when the landowner and police try to take him to custody. Only to realise it was an Ausie classic.

[@thethrashyone]

I remember having a more kiddie-sounding version of this song on cassette when I was little. I was always confused by the lyric "till his billy boil", but now I realize it's an Aussie idiom for making tea.

[@ravengirl7303]

TheThrashyOne if your australian you should have learned that in history

[@toddhellyar4167]

@@ravengirl7303 And you should have learned the difference between your and you're

[@infledermaus]

when the alarm on my first day in 6th grade, this song was on the radio. the family was hooked! i don't know why it popped in my head this morning. it made happy on a day when I was sad and depressed. that first back in school. thx for sharing this!!!! it still makes me happy. played it for Australian neighbor and she sang right along!

[@ajmorrison2739]

Learned this on my first day of 6th grade too in music class

[@ravengirl7303]

Saint Steven Ummmm.....I'm about to finish year six :/ and my family is your average Australian family we use Aussie slang and we get it and we all ( except for my sister) love camping and eating fresh fish right out of the ocean just thinking about smoked salmon makes my mouth drool

[@Justvids34]

My name is Matilda

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

@@Justvids34 Do you waltz Matilda?

[@braininvasion8192]

For those who don't know let me translate (for fun =)) Once a jolly Backpacker camped by a pond under the shade of a Gum tree. And he sang as he watched and waited til his pot of water boiled. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. (Think backpacking) Walking with a backpack, walking with a backpack. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. And he sang as he watched and waited til his pot of water boiled. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. Down came a sheep to drink at the pond. Up jumped the Backpacker and grabbed him with glee. (Him? it was a ram apparently) And he sang as he shoved that sheep in his food storage bag. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. (or in my backpack. RIP sheep) Walking with a backpack, walking with a backpack. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. And he sang as shoved that sheep in his food storage bag. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. Up rode the landowner mounted on his horse. Down came the soldiers. One. Two. Three. Whose is that sheep you've got in your food storage bag? You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. (Bring your bag to the station, son) Walking with a backpack, walking with a backpack. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. Whose is that sheep you've got in your food storage bag? You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. Up jumped the Backpacker and sprang into the pond. "You'll never take me alive," said he. And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that pond. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. Walking with a backpack, walking with a backpack. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. And his ghost may be heard a you pass by that pond. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. You'll come a walking with a backpack with me. I chose Backpacker because I think it's a closer fit to what Swagmen actually were than hobo. And, you know, backpack. Doesn't the story of a poor guy illegally camping on a farm, killing a sheep and resisting arrest by drowning and killing himself just warm the cockles of your heart and sum up everything it means to be Australian?

[@karendouglas8519]

Great!

[@efrenruedam.5512]

Great

[@efrenruedam.5512]

Great

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Warms the cockles of my heart the same as that other guy who wears a mail box on his head goes around killing troopers and ends up getting hanged. Aaah! We love a happy ending. Such is life.

[@annavesely5404]

Beautiful, beautiful......

[@WeMuckAround]

Pretty much the national anthem of Australia.

[@ravengirl7303]

WeMuckAround yeah but better

[@Oddricm]

We at least know all the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda. Can't say that for the second half of the anthem.

[@SonNguyen-kv2jh]

But what about Advance the Australins fair

[@itsgracetime958]

WeMuckAround it was almost the Australian anthem but they chose the Australian anthem

[@biteme9486]

What about Land Down Under?

[@user-hn4db2uu5w]

Korean I am. Learned the background of this song. Very much impresive......

[@jeffbondoc6891]

A Filipino that love to sing this song. So patriotic and the melody makes me sing and dance even though I’m terrible on it. 🤣

[@davidhubbell1687]

I've always loved this song

[@dionisiopascarella8275]

I'm from Italy and Axis of Awesome's 4 Chords song brought me here. Cheers.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

The Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿have their Yma o Hyd at the Rugby so why aren't the Aussies bashing out this tune. It's songs like this and poets like B.P and Lawson that give us our identity.

[@kimmcnamara4798]

I love this song even though its a bit old school

[@lawrencedewan9838]

Dear Pretty Kim, ... sorta the point. History. Much like Your virginity...

[@duckfacepersonguy9611]

Singing this in an Australian bar and watching as all the Aussies rise

[@TheSpaceCase]

I should do this when I’m 18

[@milo2489]

The Aussie spirit of banjo Patterson

[@itsryanocerosxd]

I like this song. CHeese!

[@charlotteheudebourck9926]

I propose we have a vote changing the national athum of Australia to this we know it’ll be at least 80% that want it so let’s do it

[@DrWoodyII]

When the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide, this song will still be popular.

[@ntm7076]

Great song! I've been singing it in the shower for decades

[@veroniquewalbourgh6880]

👏👏👏👏😂😂

[@bradthegamer4006]

My pops miniature train is named Matilda its green :) Good song!

[@johnlowell5905]

First heard this song when I saw the movie "On the Beach". Haunting lyrics and tune, still makes me choke up each time I hear it.

[@laclarous9282]

John Lowell it’s just because you’re not Australian.

[@davidparris7167]

I agree".On The Beach" is one of the most heart breaking movies ever made with Waltzing Matilda playing throughout,adding to this overwellming feeling of loss.

[@mcfixer9503]

personally, as I have heard this song live, it sounds better at 1.25, but it still sounds good at normal

[@robertwoodward829]

Yes. Cool tune. However, no one will ever top the great Tom Waits changed up and live 77 version! To me one of the greatest period!

[@joedickerson8202]

This is an awesome song

[@moonlitbee]

Any of me fellow Aussies here in 2019 2020 2021 Or 2022 . . 2019 for me

[@gicar7247]

absolutely delightful and very well sang. Thank you for uploading this version and the lyrics. Appreciated indeed.

[@DrWoodyII]

The family of five, Australia, Canada, The United States, New Zeland, and our Mother Country, Great Britan. We are all of one language, and yet each of our versions of the mother tongue is so distinctly unique. Nonetheless, we are all still The Fabulous Five. May Providence bless each and all.

[@sw36jl]

You forgot Singapore. Almost all Singaporeans speak English and we have a weird accent

[@laurentiusfritz3673]

what about ireland?

[@laurentiusfritz3673]

@@sw36jl Singapore was even founded by a brit, if I'm not mistaken

[@davidparris7167]

@@laurentiusfritz3673 The Five were all in various ways mistreated by the mother country but we all got over it and moved on but Ireland was mistreated on a whole different level of bastardry and cruelty which cannot easily be forgiven but Ireland because of it's greatness as a nation of poets and warriors will find forgiveness in their hearts .I suspect you already have.You all use the English language as a second language better in a lot of ways than the rest of us use it as our first language.Cheers from The Land Of Oz.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Yeh like the Fantastic Five superheroes. Air-bus Albanese can pick up Stretch man Trudeau and 🔥 fire man Rishi Sunak on the way to collect the rock man Biden because he doesn't have a clue when it comes to directions. Keep dreaming.

[@mingjia9946]

I like the rhythm of these song.

[@baileychapman05]

Waltzing Matilda was a homeless man who ate a farmers sheep that was not his, so the farmer called the police to arrest him and he said that they’ll never catch him alive, and he jumped in the billabong, (basically a lake) and drowned himself, for any of you Americans out there

[@lawrencedewan9838]

Gee "Lavender'...Guess You Laplanders are smarter than us all! Get a shave, hippie!

[@markseymour671]

I love him

[@MrPanzerblitz]

I'm seventy years old and American. I learned this song in probably the fourth grade! Admittedly, I have never known what it meant.

[@louisgingras5059]

Civilization VI brought me here !

[@rustyrelicsfarm2406]

I am American and I love this song.

[@ronniewilliams9169]

In the 90's I was in elementary and we learned this song in chorus#timefly

[@exoticgaming898]

I'm Australian and I have to perform a bliddy speech (which is waltzing Matilda) we can't have a piece of paper to look at otherwise we'll get a D and I have to memorise the whole poem 😟 at the end of the term! Lol

[@jennyprde8893]

im from Indonesia, my daughter learned this song too, she is in grade 2

[@itsryanocerosxd]

THE best! I give it a100%

[@windshear33]

Troopers kind of answered their own question about the whereabouts of the jumbuck there didn't they?

[@mariaferro6710]

Beautiful song!

[@georgigator6105]

Proud to be Australian

[@heidiscott61]

fave song

[@davidschwartz6380]

Ok...i have to ask after checking various vids.....are there 2 different sets of waltzing matilda?

[@tldredhistory8391]

Won't forget this song, till the day I die.

[@ninomekokishvili5072]

Verry good sang 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Very good song. Sang is past tense. He sang/sung that well.

[@lawrencedewan9838]

Great Song. God Bless!

[@britneynguyen7652]

It's the best!

[@jairantoniooliveira]

I love this song. I listen daily! I already made the plans. As soon as I retire, I'm going out with my dog!

[@lawrencedewan9838]

Jair...please re-phrase...

[@Virtual_pie976]

This should be the new National anthem of Australia

[@POPsongsADDICT]

I was at the zoo on Wednesday. when I passed by the wallaby enclosure I just HAD to sing this song

[@yashshewale7021]

Good 4 u... no one cares

[@POPsongsADDICT]

does it matter? when people comment on youtube, they just comment based on what they are thinking. no one comments to get someone to "care" -_-

[@xanthedraytonharrold595]

WarDragon72345 if you care about people commenting on videos and thinking its a waste then why are you fucking doing it

[@WarDragon72345]

Xanthe Drayton Harrold I never said it's a waste. I meant that some people could be commenting to get attention, that's all.

[@xanthedraytonharrold595]

WarDragon72345 like you

[@cherylelainewilliams6449]

🎶🎶 great version

[@katilynschwerin7215]

Love this song

[@alisonpolvoreda5137]

🐩

[@puffin51]

Swagman: An itinerant worker who carried a "swag" strapped to his back, that is, a bedroll containing necessities for the road. Not exactly a tramp or hobo. A swagman would take work where he found it, in season, but spent a lot of time on the road. A subclass of swagman was the "sundowner", who would turn up at an isolated homestead and ask for work just at sundown, knowing that it was too late in the day to get much done, but that he'd probably get a meal and a place to sleep. Billabong: A waterhole or maybe a oxbow lake, or pool in a river bed, but not large. Coolibah: Species of gum tree. Fairly low and spreading. The point is, it's hard to be under its shade unless you're lying down. Billy: Straight sided metal cooking pot, used to be made of tinned sheet steel. Looked like a small bucket. Used for tea, most often. Waltzing matilda: "Matilda" s another name for the swag. When the swagman was in his stride, the "matilda" swung from side to side, as if it were his dance partner. Jumbuck: A sheep. Tucker: Food, meal. Hence "tuckerbag", a sack containing tucker. To get a sheep into a tuckerbag, you'd have to kill and butcher it. Squatter: Lessee (not owner) of a substantial pastoral property, holding a long-term lease for grazing rights. A squatter was a person of substance. He didn't own the land, but he did own the stock that he grazed on it. Hence, the swagman was not guilty of trespass, but he had stolen the sheep. Thoroughbred: Top quality horse, 0pedigreed, expensive. Of course the swagman was on foot. Troopers: Probably Queensland Mounted Police, since the song originated in Queensland. Police constables, anyway. What the squatter was doing with three of them in tow is anybody's guess. This is serious overkill, amounting almost to class warfare. The squatter must have been a bit of a squireen, a local big noise, sort of landed gentry, only neither landowner nor gentleman. One last thing: a billabong was not a large body of water, and not deep. You'd be going some to drown yourself in one. And what was the penalty for stealing a sheep to feed yourself? Thirty days? Not exactly Ned Kelly, this bloke, eh? Perhaps the whole point of the song is that the swaggie and the squatter are both up themselves, and it's very Aussie to be dryly unimpressed with both of them. So it kind of suits us.

[@grategamer777]

thanks mate

[@jas20per]

To this day I do not understand why that vibrant country of Australia did not choose this song full of Australian meaning and language for its national anthem. Instead it has a run of the mill offering with not much enjoyment in its singing. Hopefully some time in the future the people may think again.

[@jaeminshim2314]

beautiful song

[@GunCollector007]

Love it! Learned in school as a kid in NYC

[@FirstLast-qf1df]

Why isn't this version on iTunes?

[@vondumozze738]

It's instrumental but much slower but this song will always remind me of the movie "On the Beach".

[@picklepenguin8101]

Any Aussie remember this song from kindergarten (kindey)

[@KingKong-ne1mr]

Waltzing Matilda is based on a true story of a swagman who committed suicide by jumping into a billabong. Banjo Paterson's original lyrics conveyed a grim picture of the poverty, deprivation, and exploitation of Australian itinerant workers during the economic depression of the 1890s. 2021 and most of us aussies are letting this shit happen to our great country

[@Shiieeeeppieee7738]

Beautiful ❤

[@britneynguyen7652]

Keep it up Banjo Paterson!

[@tsarnicolasii1228]

Hes been dead for years. One of his Grandnieces were my schoolteacher.

[@themostbestwizard]

This sounds like Jabberwocky to me but it's catchy.

[@Meddy_medkit]

i like that i listen this at school, its a every good song but sometimes the text gets left behide. but its good

[@jameszerafa5373]

Rip Slim Dusty

[@D10RC]

Reading the comments below if you want to hear a beautiful version , Liam Clancy does a lovely job. 🇮🇪🇦🇺

[@matildaholland7524]

I am Australian and my name is Matilda

[@ewanmackenna2234]

Irishman here, lovely song, but why the choice of images at the end. Especially given "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", perhaps the greatest anti-war song ever, is names after this and based on what Australians went through at Gallipoli?

[@ravengirl7303]

Ewan MacKenna no...um...this is when the settlers first came here after America didn't want us any more (:.(.) and a swagman is a hobo.

[@Tag.ur-it]

My mum was in bed reading this book to me since I was 5

[@austrolonium8115]

Australian here and this song is home

[@matildanjeri3469]

I'm matilda

[@soybeandud4732]

Beautiful name!

[@steven117]

that's one deep billabong at the end

[@7007matthew]

I'm not Australian but I'm beginning to think that maybe I was an ANZAC in a previous life or something because this song always stirs something in me.

[@haweater1555]

Greetings from Canada. Is this not the National Anthem of Australia?

[@josefzack4617]

this is a little better, kind of a rock-a-billy tempo. still ISO a good version to save for all time. hahhahaha

[@ravengirl7303]

Josef Zack ??

[@josefzack4617]

yes?

[@heidiscott61]

bows and flows on broadwy

[@MavroProductions]

Wish this was our national anthem.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Next time your at a sporting event or the Olympics start singing it and the Crowd might catch on. Drown out that Anglo type anthem. Our anthem has..."Gert by sea".. in the lyrics. No one has used that word since Captain Cook.

[@harcovanhees394]

Because of some minor errors in the text, here another version Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred Up rode the troopers, one, two, three With that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag? You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me With that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag? You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong "You'll never take me alive", said he........ And his ghost may be heard as you're passing by that billabong You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me....... And his ghost may be heard as you're passing by that billabong You'll come a Waltzing Matilda, with me You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me

[@Afrah_Fatima]

Thank you i have a assesment tommorow and i have to sing this song infront of everyone in class, i wouldnt make it through without you!!!!

[@harcovanhees394]

@@Afrah_Fatima Good luck and have fun.🎤🎶🕺💃🙂🙂

[@MartinDiStasio]

@@Afrah_Fatimahow’d it go?

[@Afrah_Fatima]

@@MartinDiStasio good, i got 84%!

[@MartinDiStasio]

@@Afrah_Fatima good!! Was it an English assessment?

[@carstenhansen1920]

The whole world could have sung along, if the Australiens had been so wise as to choose this beautiful song as their National Anthem.

[@CoastalStars]

A u s t r *a* *l* *i* *e* *n* *s* ??

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Unfortunately my friend our country is run by a bunch of Anglophiles. Look at how proud the Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿are to sing Yma o Hyd at the 🏉 Rugby. That's where the Aussies should be singing this great song. Instead we chant a six word song... Aussie, Aussie, Aussie,..oy,oy,oy. Easier to remember when your half 🌵 cactus.

[@carstenhansen1920]

​@@CoastalStarsOne wrong letter as far as I can see. Happy you reacted.

[@jonathanmrowbury]

This song is so beautiful❤😊❤😊❤😊❤😊 (I’m a NPC)

[@benrowbury1169]

Shut up🤓🤓🤓

[@claire-tw6hl]

okay listen, were supposed to do research on this for school and I read the lyrics bc it was like "despite its sad and somber lyrics" growing up on a farm like, BRO WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO LE ANIMALS, apparently my home country is cruel

[@fishcat1177]

yay

[@buddyfafard8846]

It's quite comical when you understand what the slang words are!

[@Thomas-ry9jy]

Its kinda funny that we learned that song in Austria too.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Austrians also like to Waltz and Germany had an Empress named Matilda. All you need now is a bit of wanderlust and you've got your own Swagman song.

[@nickbear3]

Haha I'm from India and 18 years ago I heard this song on a cassette.

[@Hoshiscra]

Stowed, not shoved

[@infledermaus]

my Australian neighbor said are many many versions of this. but I agree that in this song it sure sounds like "stowed." I noticed a few other errors in the printed lyrics. great song though. we Americans love our Australians.

[@thesomethinggirls3395]

+Saint Steven Thanks, it is nice having our American friends here in Australia!!

[@ravengirl7303]

SkySoccer God you guys in America miss out I mean you guys get snow (I think) but taking a dip in the pool after a really hot summer day is da best

[@stellathepugtato1392]

thats nice

[@alisonpolvoreda5137]

😍😜😛

[@ashasatish8393]

You sing well well done

[@PS-nf3xw]

An Indian to another. Kindly desist reviews when not asked for. The singer is a fairly eastablished one, more like a legend.

[@eggman903]

Ima proud Australian

[@susancain9193]

It's the same as the Isle of Man ,we have our own language manx

[@jaeminshim2314]

im an Aussie

[@princeedchelrizada3624]

RED FLAG ASIA Australia waltzing Matilda

[@RichardSmith-ew3xz]

The Australian Women’s soccer team are known as “The Matilda’s” named after this song.

[@friarnewborg9213]

Now... it is Kamala and the Jolly Swag man

[@ferydesai8880]

W song