Waltzing Mathilda Lyrics
I've been reading a lot about the term "Waltzing Mathilda", trying hard to find out what it is about. What i have found out: it has something to do with an Australian folk song, but then the walking soldiers backpack in Vietnam War was called "Waltzing Mathilda" as it looked like a kind of dancing girl on the soldier walking in front. This song was written in 1976, end time of the Vietnam War. It seems like "Waltzing with Mathilda" is (or was) a synonym for going to war in general. In the bad way, not in the ideal of becoming a hero, young and idealistic... Just going into that hell. The soldier in this song has seen too much already, knows, that he is going to be killed or to kill others. Has been injured and has seen many deaths and cruelties. Now, in the little meantime, he tries to kill his traumatic experiences and his own feelings with women and drugs (alcohol). "Tom Traubert's Blues" (the original title, by Tom Waits) is a very intense, impressive and poetic Anti-War-Song.
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I knew this song from Rod Stewart and loved it - then I found out that he had covered it as a tribute to his 'idol' Tom Waits and well ... that's something different :-). You can easily say that this song made me listen to Tom Waits and I learned to appreciate his music along the way.
Whew! this song is F'ing depressing - and that's a HUGE compliment! Tom Waits is one artist exroidinaire.
To be honest, when I listen to this song I envy the poor man who lives out of a battered old suitcase - because 1) he's probably toasted, 2) he's happy enough, and he's at peace w/himself.
OK, you say I'm off target? Well, find for me in the lyrics ONE line that indicates that the subject of this song is UNHAPPY or NOT at peace with himself.
I suggest he is a alcoholism, he has accepted his alcoholism and he is basically observing the night people around him before he lays himself down for a night of drunken sleep.
Again, find for me in the lyrics any line that suggests he is unhappy.
It is funny, because the tone of the song is very sad.
Are we supposed to pity this man? If you accept my premise that he is a happy (aleit alcoholic) person, then why should we pity him?
Personally, my only pity for him is if he doesn't have the joy of raising children. However, we don't even know that much. He could've easily raised 5 kids or more, and then became alone. It has occurred before.
Maybe he missed out on love
Funny .. I'd rank this as one of the saddest songs of all time. Nevertheless I envy this poor, probably homeless, man.
"and it's a battered old suitcase in a hotel someplace and a wound that would never heal"
"and it's a battered old suitcase in a hotel someplace and a wound that would never heal"
that last line in those 3 is the one that shows that its ment to be sad. the wond that he is talkign about is lonlyness or heartbroken because he was in love with the prostitute matilda
that last line in those 3 is the one that shows that its ment to be sad. the wond that he is talkign about is lonlyness or heartbroken because he was in love with the prostitute matilda
"and you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor and the old men in wheelchairs know that matilda's the defendant she killed about a hundred"
"and you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor and the old men in wheelchairs know that matilda's the defendant she killed about a hundred"
its not meaning that she is actualy killing people its saying that she has broken...
its not meaning that she is actualy killing people its saying that she has broken their hearts. its what makes this song prolly the sadst song ever written.
then again i may be wrong but im pretty sure thats what its leading to =) hope i helped.
@tsreyb He's trying to convince himself that he is at peace with alcoholism. That is not the same as being at peace with oneself. Very similar to Jitterbug Boy on the same album, the narrator is a character and just because he is saying happy things does not mean he is happy.
@tsreyb He's trying to convince himself that he is at peace with alcoholism. That is not the same as being at peace with oneself. Very similar to Jitterbug Boy on the same album, the narrator is a character and just because he is saying happy things does not mean he is happy.
The original Waltzing Matilda is the story of a hobo who dances with his rucksack (matilda) in place of a real woman. I think this song is about being stuck and lonely in rainey Amsterdam finding solace with a prostitute and Bushmill's whiskey.
Note the reference to the window light which is the way prostitutes display themselves in Amsterdam
Note the reference to the window light which is the way prostitutes display themselves in Amsterdam
I love this song. End of it made me cry the first time I heard it, while reading this.
For me it captures the same feel from the original, but in a metropolitan setting. The loneliness, the desperate connection made (swag vs prostitute), the day-to-day survival in your current sitation, as an outcast, the deep resignation that this is your life.
The fact that you only really see jazz in cities adds to this as well.
Same problems within themselves, just different place and differently expressed.
I feel this song to be about heroin addiction.: now i've lost my st. christopher now that i kissed her and the one-arm bandit knows and the maverick chinaman with the cold-blooded sigh
and
begged you to stab me you tore my shirt open and i'm down on my knees tonight
old bushmills i staggered you buried the dagger
and
that the streets aren't for dreaming now manslaughter dragnet and the ghost that sells memories want a piece of the action anyhow
like an old blues singer on the road, city to city... staying in fleabags, playing dives jacking up to go to bed after closing
When I first heard this song, I thought of a GI in post WW2 Europe. The loneliness. The references to soldiers. People maybe trying to hock some garbage to get money for food. Possibly referencing a girl he met after the liberation. I know the interpretation is probably wrong, but those were my thoughts when I first heard it. After playing it on piano a few dozen times, other ideas came to mind...., but that's what sticks.
Regardless. It's a beautiful song, and Tom's voice is captivating. Mr. Waits is a wonderful artist. We are all blessed, "if that's the correct term," by his works.
Thank you sir.
Everyone keeps talking as if Tom Traubert were a penniless bum, but that's clearly not true. When was the last time you saw a bum wearing Stacys? I picture him more as a traveler who's just missing home and that one chance he missed to settle down. But he doesn't sound like he'd change things much if he could.