And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda – the unforgettable song about Gallipoli
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley February 8, 2015
Author Eric Boggle
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ISBN: 9781743317051
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Childrens
Release Date:
Website: http://www.allenandunwin.com
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When this unforgettable song was penned in 1971, it was as a direct response to the Vietnam War raging at the time, and Eric Boggles first contact with Australia’s Anzac Day march in Canberra. He had only just arrived in Australia.
In this year of Remembrance it is fitting that the words of this haunting song are released once again and complimented with the illustrations of Bruce Whatley as the subject matter is still as relevant today as it is in any theatre of war.
After watching his first Anzac Day march, Boggle decided the world needed another ‘anti-war’ song but on reflection realised the Vietnam War, was extremely unpopular with the Australian public. He realised that Gallipoli was as much as part of the Australian culture, the fabric of the country, as a BBQ.
He changed the emphasis of the words to focus on Gallipoli and the waste of young lives caused by the “stubborn stupidity and arrogance” of the Allied Forces at the time.
Simple words, yet in their simplicity they tell the story of a young man, footloose and carefree, who was called up to go to war.
He carried his pack and he carried his gun and sailed away to a war.
It tells of the terrible cost at Suvla Bay and how the men were butchered, ‘like lambs to the slaughter’; how the band played Waltzing Matilda as they stopped to bury the dead and, once it was all over they ‘started all over again’.
The words tell of being wounded and the return to Australia with the other casualties. How, when they returned the band played Waltzing Matilda, while the crowd looked on in horror and turned away.
The years pass and at each Anzac Day march the band still play Waltzing Matilda, and he ponders why the old men still answer the call.
Boggles words sadly are still as apt today as they were more than 40 years ago, when this haunting melody and the accompanying words hit the airwaves to become a song well known to that generation. It will remain with you long after the last word, the last note has faded away.
In itself it is a tribute to the men who go away to foreign shores and serve their country, often a great cost. It is also a powerful commentary on the tragedy that is war; the death, the destruction and the heartbreak which is tragically, so very much a part of our world today.