Don't know the meaning, but I do know that "Waltzing Mathilda" is quite a famous folk song in Australia.
WIKIPEDIA: "The refrain is based (almost word by word) on an old Australian folk hymn, "Waltzing Matilda", but has little in common with this song apart from this. In the Australian version, the term "Waltzing Matilda" means to roam the roads, to go walk-about. In Waits' version it seems to mean the hapless drinking and roaming of the modern small-time nomadic musician.
The origin of the song is somewhat ambiguous. The most plausible version, the sub-title of the track "Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen", seems to be that it is about a time that Waits spent in Copenhagen in 1976 while on a tour. There, he apparently met Danish singer Mathilde Bondo. In a 1998 radio interview, she confirmed that she met Waits and that they spent a night on the town together. This is also confirmed by Peter Sander. This version of the origin of the song is thus supported by the subtitle, the use of the name "Mathilda" (though spelt differently from the potential real-world inspiration) and the fact that Waits has on occasion introduced the song as "a song about throwing up in another country".
In an interview on NPR's World Cafe, aired December 15th 2006, Tom Waits states that Tom Traubert was a 'friend of a friend' that died in prison"
Don't know the meaning, but I do know that "Waltzing Mathilda" is quite a famous folk song in Australia.
WIKIPEDIA: "The refrain is based (almost word by word) on an old Australian folk hymn, "Waltzing Matilda", but has little in common with this song apart from this. In the Australian version, the term "Waltzing Matilda" means to roam the roads, to go walk-about. In Waits' version it seems to mean the hapless drinking and roaming of the modern small-time nomadic musician.
The origin of the song is somewhat ambiguous. The most plausible version, the sub-title of the track "Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen", seems to be that it is about a time that Waits spent in Copenhagen in 1976 while on a tour. There, he apparently met Danish singer Mathilde Bondo. In a 1998 radio interview, she confirmed that she met Waits and that they spent a night on the town together. This is also confirmed by Peter Sander. This version of the origin of the song is thus supported by the subtitle, the use of the name "Mathilda" (though spelt differently from the potential real-world inspiration) and the fact that Waits has on occasion introduced the song as "a song about throwing up in another country".
In an interview on NPR's World Cafe, aired December 15th 2006, Tom Waits states that Tom Traubert was a 'friend of a friend' that died in prison"