Military songs

[cpttango30]

Watching an episode of JAG with the wife and it was the one where Brumbe got recalled to Australia. They started singing Waltzing Matilda. Is this a Aus Navy song?

[22WRF]

Is this a Aus Navy song?

Sort of unofficial national anthem of Australia.

Having sailed on a couple of Aussie ships I never heard of it being just a navy song.
I have heard it played on their PA while refueling them in the T Gulf..


I'm sure Jack can elaborate on it.

[bobski]

the term derives from German immigrants. German soldiers commonly referred to their greatcoats as "Matilda", supposedly because the coat kept them as warm as a woman would. Early German immigrants who "went on the waltz" would wrap their belongings in their coat, and took to calling it by the same name their soldiers had used.
its a common phrase of people walking with all they owned on their backs in a sack.
song im told was a political ballet about a hobo killed that was involved in stealing a sheep.

remember the movie...'on the beach?' its why the director used it. the sub crew had everything they owned in the sub, as they travelled the world looking for life.

[mjp28]

Originally Posted by 22WRF

Sort of unofficial national anthem of Australia.

Having sailed on a couple of Aussie ships I never heard of it being just a navy song.
I have heard it played on their PA while refueling them in the T Gulf..

I'm sure Jack can elaborate on it.

....The title is Australian slang for travelling by foot with one's goods (waltzing, derived from the German auf der Walz) in a "Matilda" (bag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a sheep to eat. When the sheep's owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft, the worker commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole, after which his ghost haunts the site......

Geezzz, I thought it was just a song about a woman.

(and I shoulda' read the previous post first)

[mjp28]

Originally Posted by bobski

remember the movie...'on the beach?' its why the director used it. the sub crew had everything they owned in the sub, as they travelled the world looking for life.

Oh yes I've seen that movie with Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire about the post nuclear war times, done in the 1950s when we were in the middle of the Cold War scares.

At least it never really happened....yet.

[jack404]

correct all so far

your matilda is your swag sometimes a WW! duffel coat and blanket rolled up sometimes a stockmans bed roll,

waltzing your matilda is travelling , like your hobo's , many were seasonal workers and traveled between jobs as best they could ,

i waltzed my matilda for a couple years after getting out , backpacked across the USA Russia parts of asia and Australia.. a bit better than the old days a lot of the time

Now the Royal Irish Rifles also have watlzing matilda as a quick march as a sign of respect from gallipoli they got cut off and the Aussies went and got em , the regiment

and the newfoundland regiments do as well ( they where with the Irish ) ..

but anywhere theres beer you'll hear it here ..

the old national anthem and the one i prefer is God Save the Queen , ( well spank me and call me royalist)

new one was written for us

Advance Australia Fair

[mjp28]

I still liked my dad's favorite when it came to military songs and marches, John Philip Sousa, the master!