There are a couple of reason for why I chose this song today.
For the most part I have been singing Waltzing Matilda since I first heard it- and I have no idea when that was. I was a little girl and I think my Grandpa Bert may have taught it to me, so I was around 5 years old.
I caught on to the fact this song was about a traveler all along in the world surviving by his wits and that he sang a lot ( come on now, I was five ). The thing here is, when I was five I was positive I was going to grow up and wander the world ( with a dog ) and one day I would leave this world- me and my dog- when we got old but would a little thing like death stop us?
HA!
It would most certainly NOT.
We’d be ghosts, me and my dog and our adventures would never end.
Me at five and I was ready to see the world!
Oh there once was a swagman camped in a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda my darling Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me Waltzing Matilda and leading a water bag Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water hole Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Down came the squatter a riding on his thoroughbred Down came the troopers one two three Whose is that jumbuck you’ve got in the tucker bag You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
But the swagman he up and he jumped into the water hole Drowning himself by the coolibah tree And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the billabong Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me
I chose this version of Matilda for two reasons.
First of all Puddles has the most magnificent voice in the world- you can catch him live or recorded and delicious voice is there waiting to treat your soul to a feast of notes just ready to feed your hungry soul and all of the muses.
Second- if you went by looks you’d probably think you were going to get pranked and maybe you wouldn’t give Puddles a chance because of the way he looks.
There’s a life lesson in that.
I’ll let you work that part out while you click play and waltz with me and Puddles.
