The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
I borrowed Liam Uprichard’s car last weekend, and I listened to one of his Dubliners
discs, which included a special favourite of mine, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, an Australian ballad about the First World War. Since then some of the powerful lines of the song have been rattling around in my mind, reminding me of my deep antipathy to the killing and mayhem of war. “And when I awoke in me hospital bed, and saw what it had done, I wished I was dead – never knew there was worse things than dying.”
I taught a Leaving Certificate History class one year when I worked in Dublin, and I recall that one of the students, Marie was her name, could not understand how what is called the First Great War got started. I wasn’t much help to her because it made no sense to me either. The murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and all that stuff leading to men in trenches killing and maiming each other to gain control of a few yards here and a few miles there.”In 1915 my country said Son it’s time you stopped rambling, there is work to be done, so they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.”
War takes a terrible toll in human suffering. Whether in Iraq, Vietnam or Gallipoli, soldiers are placed in impossible situations. Imagine starting every day – day after day – knowing that you may well be killed or maimed before the night comes again. This kind of unreal pressure has to disorient any normal human being. No wonder so many come back from these wars, unable to cope with the real world. I find it hard to understand why most veterans prefer right-wing candidates, the guys who beat the drum and talk about the need for more and more money to be spent in armaments of all kinds. Maybe, having bought in to the heroics of war and the need to assert American power against our enemies, they keep believing that stuff and rejecting the more thoughtful liberal perspective.
Cheney and Bush decided to invade and occupy a Muslim country whose people remember the Crusades by the infidel West the way the Irish remember Cromwell. Both men used their family influence to avoid serving in their war, Vietnam. If they had served, maybe, just maybe, they would have had second thoughts about that stupid invasion. Do statements like “bring them on” and “mission accomplished” suggest any knowledge of real warfare? The reality is so different. “The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane. Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.”
Am I a pacifist? I am very close to that position, as I understand it. Of course, the Nazis had to be stopped. And what about Pol Pot and other murderous dictators? I don’t have the answers, but I do know that if even half of the money that is spent on weapons every year was directed instead to eliminating poverty and disease, we, in the West would be much safer.
I recommend listening to or reading this powerful Australian ballad. “The band played Waltzing Matilda when we stopped to bury our slain. We buried ours, the Turks buried theirs, then we started all over again.”
I borrowed Liam Uprichard’s car last weekend, and I listened to one of his Dubliners
discs, which included a special favourite of mine, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, an Australian ballad about the First World War. Since then some of the powerful lines of the song have been rattling around in my mind, reminding me of my deep antipathy to the killing and mayhem of war. “And when I awoke in me hospital bed, and saw what it had done, I wished I was dead – never knew there was worse things than dying.”
I taught a Leaving Certificate History class one year when I worked in Dublin, and I recall that one of the students, Marie was her name, could not understand how what is called the First Great War got started. I wasn’t much help to her because it made no sense to me either. The murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and all that stuff leading to men in trenches killing and maiming each other to gain control of a few yards here and a few miles there.”In 1915 my country said Son it’s time you stopped rambling, there is work to be done, so they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.”
War takes a terrible toll in human suffering. Whether in Iraq, Vietnam or Gallipoli, soldiers are placed in impossible situations. Imagine starting every day – day after day – knowing that you may well be killed or maimed before the night comes again. This kind of unreal pressure has to disorient any normal human being. No wonder so many come back from these wars, unable to cope with the real world. I find it hard to understand why most veterans prefer right-wing candidates, the guys who beat the drum and talk about the need for more and more money to be spent in armaments of all kinds. Maybe, having bought in to the heroics of war and the need to assert American power against our enemies, they keep believing that stuff and rejecting the more thoughtful liberal perspective.
Cheney and Bush decided to invade and occupy a Muslim country whose people remember the Crusades by the infidel West the way the Irish remember Cromwell. Both men used their family influence to avoid serving in their war, Vietnam. If they had served, maybe, just maybe, they would have had second thoughts about that stupid invasion. Do statements like “bring them on” and “mission accomplished” suggest any knowledge of real warfare? The reality is so different. “The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane. Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.”
Am I a pacifist? I am very close to that position, as I understand it. Of course, the Nazis had to be stopped. And what about Pol Pot and other murderous dictators? I don’t have the answers, but I do know that if even half of the money that is spent on weapons every year was directed instead to eliminating poverty and disease, we, in the West would be much safer.
I recommend listening to or reading this powerful Australian ballad. “The band played Waltzing Matilda when we stopped to bury our slain. We buried ours, the Turks buried theirs, then we started all over again.”
4 comments:
The original Waltzing Matilda is a poem by Banjo Paterson, set to an old Scottish air and popular among Australian soldiers during the Great War; any film of the mid-years of the century would announce the arrival of an Australian character by playing it as background, like they used a jig to represent an Irish character.
This anti-war song was written by Eric Bogle, a Scotsman now living in Australia. The Clancys were one of the first to record it; the Fureys had a huge hit with Willie McBride and Leaving Nancy, Bogle's tribute to his mother. Christy Moore recorded some of his stuff too, like Diamantina Drover, Now I'm Easy; Paddy Reilly did Safe in the Harbour. Unlikely to find Bogle in American stores, but I assure you a Bogle CD is a treasure wherever you can find it.
One sad note and I don't have the details, but I have heard that some of those who recorded his stuff did not recompense him properly. Would love to hear what that is about.
Fran
From Kieran Moriarty
Gerald;
I tried to post a comment on the blog, but made some error on the way, so just said I'd reply here.
I learned this song from Dad at a very young age - I remember singing it at Jim and Urs's wedding, and your telling me that it was one of your favourite songs.
I also remember Dad telling me that when the Clancys sang it in Ireland for the first time on the Late Late Show in the early 80's (or so), there was
literally silence in the studio for a few seconds before the audience broke into rapturous applause. It was as if the audience hardly believed the power of what they had heard. I wasnt sure whether this was Dad just being nostalgic, until I read an interview with Gay Byrne recently where he verified the above, and said that it was one of the most moving things he ever witnessed in 40 years on the show. I'd love to see old footage of it,
if RTE had it in the archives.
Interesting blog!
Kieran
I'd love to find out what the dispute about royalties was and which Irish performers were responsible. Incidentally, Kieran, your dad also knew the original Waltzing Matilda.
Two more comments, each relevant in their way. Bogle's best, imho(!!), is Singing the Spirit Home. Try to find it if you can. If it doesn't raise a shiver, you're not human.
And the best anti-war song ever written, again imho, is "I was only 19". The best recording is the original by Redgum where they use the helicopter sound in the background. Written by John Schumann, a South Australian who later ran for parliament against the Foreign Minister here, a pompous ** named Alexander Downer and almost won. You can find it on You Tube. Visiting Vietnam this year, even for only a week or so, reminded me how awful that war was and the uneven fight it was.
I just read "I was only 19" for the first time. Very moving! Is it more powerful than Matilda or "The Green Fields of France?" They all tell of young men being put in awful situations where death or physical or psychological maiming were the expected results. Soldiers always speak of the importance of comradeship in somehow seeing them through the daily nightmares.
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