Waltzing Matilda*

by

Key: D*

Form: Bush ballad

ABC*: 

X: 1
T: Waltzing Matilda
R: barndance
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Cmaj
CD E2E2 D2D2 | CDEC A,B,C2 | G,2CE G2GG | G2FE D2CD |
E2EE D2D2 | CD EC A,B, C2 | G,2 CE G2 FE | D2DD C4 |
G2GG G2E2 |c2 cc B2 A2 | G2 GG A2 GG | G2 FE D2 CD |
E2 EE D2 D2 | CD EC A,B, C2 | G,2 CE G2 FE | D2 DD C4 |

MP3*:

Download this MP3  (If it plays, right-click on the page and “Save as”. (Detailed instructions for different browsers).

Sheet Music*: Click image to enlarge. (The modern sheet music here is by permission and courtesy of music-for-music-teachers.com.)

Manuscript in E flat

Waltzing Matilda in D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheet Music in PDF: WALTZING-MATILDA-in D (by permission and courtesy of music-for-music-teachers.com.)

YouTube:  

Source (if known): Banjo Patterson wrote the poem in 1895.  The tune’s origin is uncertain but first appeared in sheet music in 1903. It is considered Australia’s “unofficial national anthem”.

Other Tunes in Set:

Region: Australia

*Notes:

    1. Key: Our MP3 recording is in D major, as is Slim Dusty’s rendition in the YouTube video, and the ABC above is in C. But, being a song, Waltzing Matilda is commonly transposed to match a singers vocal range. The old sheet music above is shown in E-flat major.
    2. Okay, this is a long way from the North Atlantic, but since your webmaster is Australian born, he couldn’t resist.  As with many Australian songs and tunes, echoes of the English and Irish early immigrants–many of them convicts–can be heard.
    3. Glossary:
        • Billabong: Australian term for an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course, often used as a watering hole.
        • Billy or billycan: A lightweight cooking pot in the form of a bucket, commonly used for boiling water, making tea/coffee or cooking over a campfire.
        • Jumbuck: An Australian English term for a male sheep.
        • Squatter: Squatting in Australian history referred to someone who occupied a large tract of crown land in order to graze livestock, initially often having no legal rights to the land.
        • Swagman: an itinerant worker, often traveling on foot with his bedroll and belongings in a “matilda” (swag) slung on his back, between sheep and cattle “stations” sometimes days journey apart.
        • Tucker: Food.
        • Waltzing Matilda: Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one’s belongings in a “matilda” (swag) on one’s back.  It can also refer to carrying away something stolen.
    4. Lyrics:

    Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
    Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
    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
    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 beside the billabong,
    Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
    he sang as he shoved 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
    he sang as he shoved 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,
    Where’s the 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
    Where’s the jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker bag?
    You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, you scoundrel with me.

    Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
    You’ll never catch me alive, said he,
    And his ghost may be heard as you pass 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 pass by that billabong,
    You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.
    Oh, you’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.