"Waltzing Matilda": An Australian Folk Song

On my college days, I used to take various subjects. I love taking notes and collecting handouts distributed by professors in each class I took. As a result, now I have a heap of paper sheets, each full of my handwriting and lecture materials. This morning somehow I happened to have a sudden urge to inspect that pile of paper and I found a song's lyrics originated from the land downunder, Australia. My professor teaching Australian Studies subject gave me this years ago and I thought it would be fun for you to know this song. But sorry in advance, I totally forgot how to sing it but if you really want to know how to sing it, try googling and scouring the web or try searching on Youtube.com. Perhaps that might be of help.

But even if you don't know how to sing this song, you still can learn many things and have fun with it. Here is the song's lyrics.

Waltzing Matilda

A. B. (Banjo) Paterson

Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong

Under the shade of a Coolabah tree

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

'Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

Down come a jumbuck to drink at the water hole

Up jumped a swagman and grabbed him in glee

And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag

"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me".

Up rode the Squatter a riding his thouroughbred

Up rode the Trooper - one, two, three

"Where's that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"

"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me".

But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole

Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree

And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong

"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

This is the paraphrase of the song lyrics:

"Once (long time ago) there was a happy hobo (wanderer/ homeless) camping by a water hole, under the shade of a Coolabah tree. While he was waiting for his can until it boiled, he was singing. Then a sheep came and drank at the waterhole. The hobo grabbed the sheep happily and stowed the sheep away in his tucker bag. The squatter and trooper , however, knew it. frightened by them, the hobo jumped and drowned himself in the waterhole. Eventually, the hobo's ghost remained singing in the water hole."

There are some Australian slang expressions in the lyrics. Here they are:

• billabong : a waterhole
• billy : a can or small kettle used to bil water for tea
• coolabah tree : a type of native tree in Australia
• jumbuck : a sheep. There are 20 times as many as sheep as there are people in Australia.
  
• squatter : at one time, squatters claimed (seized) land for themselves in addition to land that they had been granted. Eventually through the continuous occupation of the land, their claims were legitimized in the eyes of the law.
• swagman : someone wholives on the open road (a hobo/ wanderer). the term came from the canvas bag that they would carry their bedroll and/or belongings in.
• trooper : In Australia's early days, there was no police force. The colony was protected by and policed by soldiers and even when a police force was finally formed, they were still referred to as (called) 'troopers'.
• tucker bag : a bag for storing food in the bush.