Banjo Paterson\s ballad 'Waltzing Matilda'

People have different ideas about the meaning of 'Waltzing Matilda' because the ballard was written with words that people don't use now.

Just as Paterson's nickname as 'Banjo', similarly, nicknames were given to other things.  For example, the word 'waltzing' was used to mean 'walking around from place to place'.

In the late 1800's many men travelled around the country looking far for work on farms. Also, a traveler's backpack, or the bag he carried on his back with all his personal possessions and bedroll, was called his 'Matilda'.  So, 'Waltzing Matilda' meant 'walking around the country with a backpack on your back'.

Waltzing Matilda

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Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong

  Under the shade of a coolibah tree

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

  You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

   Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

 You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

   Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong

 Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee

And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag

   You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

 Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

Up rode the squatter mounted on hi thoroughbred

   Down come troopers one two three

Whose that jumbuck you've got in the tuckerbag?

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

         Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong

   You'll never catch me alive said he

And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong

  You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.