🎶 Open Mic Week 17 🎶 Waltzing Matilda Acapella 🎶 Breakdown and Meaning of the Song 🎶

Today is Australia Day so I felt inclined to do an Aussie classic called Waltzing Matilda, it is a much loved song here and is recognised as one of Australia's most famous Bush Ballads.

Waltzing Matilda was written by Banjo Paterson in 1895.

I have also included a list of meanings for the words people may not understand and a line by line breakdown of the song, plus a brief explanation as to the overall meaning of the song.

Hey Steemit this is my entry into Open Mic week 17.

Lyrics:

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

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?

Along 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,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?

Up jumped the swagman, leapt into the billabong,
You'll never catch me alive, said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by the billabong,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?

Original Waltzing Matilda manuscript 1895 | © Christina Macpherson/WikiCommons

Word Meanings:

Swagman = A person (hobo) who carried all of his belongings in his "swag" (pack)
Billabong =a branch of a river forming a backwater or stagnant pool, made by water flowing from the main stream during a flood.
Billy = A billy is a metal tin with a wire handle that was used to boil water.
Jumbuck = Is a sheep.
Tucker Bag = Tucker is slang for food, so tucker bag it's a type of bag you stored your food in.
Squatter = Wealthy landowner / rancher.
Waltzing = Means to travel on foot (waltzing, derived from the German auf der Walz)
Matilda = Something you store your belongings in (swag) usually slung over one's back.

Picture of a Billabong

Breakdown of Waltzing Matilda:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
once a happy traveller camped by a pond,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
under the shade of a Eucalypt tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
and he sang as he watched and waited til his water boiled (tea or food)
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Traveling with your stuff, Traveling with your stuff.
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
and he sang as he watched and waited til his water boiled (tea or food)
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Along came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Along came a sheep to drink at that pond
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
Up jumped the traveller and grabbed the sheep happily
And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
And he sang as he put the sheep in his food storage bag
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.
You'll come a traveling on foot with their belongings on their back with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Traveling with your stuff, Traveling with your stuff.
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
and he sang as he watched and waited til his water boiled (tea or food)
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up rode a wealthy landowner (the dude who owned the sheep), mounted on his expensive horse
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
Down came the three mounted cops
Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
Who owns that sheep you have in you food bag?
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.
You'll come a traveling on foot with their belongings on their back with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Traveling with your stuff, Traveling with your stuff.
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
and he sang as he watched and waited til his water boiled (tea or food)
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Up jumped the swagman, leapt into the billabong,
Up jumped the traveller and leapt into the pond
You'll never catch me alive, said he,
I'd rather die than be arrested (he'd be killed if he was arrested any way) he said
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by the billabong,
He drowned and his ghost haunts the pond and if you pass the pond you may hear him sing
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me.
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
Traveling with your stuff, Traveling with your stuff.
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
and he sang as he watched and waited til his water boiled (tea or food)
Who'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me?
Who'll come a traveling on foot with all their belongings on their back with me?

Overall Meaning:

Basically the song is about a poor traveller who has made camp for the night by the bank of a water hole, he is joyful and singing in spite of his lack of food and wealth.

He is making his supper when a sheep comes to the watering hole to drink, he is poor so probably doesn't have much in the way of rations (food) so he kills the sheep eats it and stores the left overs in his tuckerbag.

Next thing a wealthy man and three cops show up and question him about where he got the sheep and who owned it? They know he stole it from the wealthy man and threaten to arrest him.

The swagman knows that an arrest would likely result in his death anyway, so he decides to commit suicide by jumping into the water hole.

So in the end he dies by his own choosing rather than at the hands of the cops and now his spirit can be heard singing at the watering hole.

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Here are another couple of renditions of Waltzing Matilda:

Tommy Emmanuel:

Slim Dusty:

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