Waltzing Matilda, more than a song
Background...
Speaking about Australia is very special for me
because my grandmother’s brother lived there many years, and when I was a kid,
I always heard stories about that country. I even remember that he sent me a
nice little cap with the Australian map and the name of the country on it. I
really wonder if my grandparents still have it stored along with my family’s
other belongings (of course, we could not bring all our stuff to Spain). But,
in any case, we are here to talk about a wonderful song that Australia gave to
the world: Waltzing Matilda.
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| Source: Wallpaperflare (Sergio Morales) |
The song, which many people consider that has
the same status (or even an unofficial higher status) that the Australian
national anthem, was written by Andrew Barton Paterson in 1895. The melody that
Barton chose for his song was taken from a musical composition created by James
Barr which is nowadays known as “The Craigielee”.
If you are a non-English speaker, or even someone from the US or other English-speaking county, you will have a hard time figuring out what they are talking about. As you may know, Australian English is very particular and unique. In words of Johnny Cash, the song tells the story of a happy hobo camping under a coolabah tree who grabbed a jumbuck (some kind of sheep) and put it on his storage bag. However, things got tricky when police arrived, and this absolute madman jumped into a lake to escape from the law. Absolutely amazing!
Since then, the song has become an icon of
Australian culture and has the record of being the most recorded Australian
song in history. It also was one of the four songs that competed to become the
official Aussie national anthem in the 1977 plebiscite, and it is used by the
Australian Military as a marching song. In fact, in this video of the
Australian War Memorial we can see soldiers singing Waltzing Matilda while
marching:
However, if we mention the relation between Waltzing Matilda and the Military, we cannot let one name out of the story: John Collision. Collison was an Australian soldier that served in WWI who is known for being the first person to record Waltzing Matilda in 1926. You can hear the original recording here courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
During the years, many versions were recorded. In many versions, the lyrics change slightly because there is no official version. However, the spirit of the song remains intact. Here I bring you some versions that I personally like and would like to share with you.
Slim Dusty
The famous New South Welshman made two of my favourite versions. They are very catchy!
Sydney Youth Orchestra
This is the version featured in the Waltzing
Matilda video in DeroVolk.
Geoff Knorr
Knorr’s made four versions of Waltzing Matilda
for Sid Meier’s game “Civilization VI”. I personally like the Medieval and
Atomic versions. Amazing use of didgeridoos by the way!
One last thing...
Okay! We have heard the song many times and we
know the story. But we still have one question to answer: What does Waltzing
Matilda mean? There are many theories about the meaning and what was Barton’s
original idea. You can check this resource for further reading about the story and the
meaning of this famous words that represent Australia everywhere in the world.
Do you have a favourite version? Share it in the comments!
PS: You can find more old recordings of Waltzing Matilda in the NFSA website. Click here!
I like a lot the "God Bless Australia" version
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