Those of you from Oz, please accept the following in the spirit of fun it was written in.
I visited Rebecca's web site (www.ozbird.com) this morning. Rebecca, once again, it is very lovely. I get a kick out of it every time I visit.
On the "No Worries" page, I found the lyrics to "Waltzing Matilda". I first heard this song years ago in the movie "On the Beach". Of course, then it was being sung by drunken sailors, so I didn't understand any of the words. Then one night, when the chat was slow, Janne sang (typed) the first verse out on the screen. I began to think that being drunk was a requirement to singing the song (may be for all I know), 'cuz Janne didn't make any sense either. And then this morning, I found the lyrics on Rebecca's page.
I have never been to Oz, and so have no right to criticize the drinking habits there. I will assume that Rebecca was sober when this was typed, and that it is an accurate rendition of Mr. Paterson's writing.
For the benefit of my American friends, following is the complete verse, followed by how all of this might be translated here in the Southern US.
Waltzing Matilda
by Banjo Paterson
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
"Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?"
"Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda, who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?"
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me??"
Up came a jumbuck to drink out that waterhole
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
"You'll come a waltzing matilda with me!!"
Chorus .....
Up rode the squatter mounted on his thoroughbred
Up came the troopers, one! two!! three!!!
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me!!"
Chorus .....
Up jumped the swagman, sprang into that billabong
"You'll never catch me alive!" said he..
And his GHOST (sing softly and slowly) may be heard as you pass
by that billabong..
"You'll come a waltzing matilda with me!"
"Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda, who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?"
And his GHOST (sing softly and slowly) may be heard
as you pass by that billabong
"Who'll come a waltzing matilda with me?"
OK, first verse. What on earth is a swagman? I think I know. SWAG is an engineering acronym. It stands for Scientific Wild Ass Guess. Only those of us who have studied long and hard in a specific field may make this kind of guess. Others are left with the less authoritative WAG. So I have figured out that swagman is Australian for engineer.
Billabong? Well, here in the South, if we was to camp next to something to protect it, it would be our moonshine still. I have no idea what a coolibah tree is, but I am familiar with Magnolias
. So the happy engineer is sitting under a Magnolia by his still, waiting for the mash to boil. Then he does two things really strange; 1 - He starts singing. Folks, you do not want to give the location of a still away. The engineer musta been sampling some of the squeezings. 2 - He starts asking for someone to join him in a dance with some girl named Matilda. A threesome? The Baptist church frowns on that kind of activity here in the South. Unless of course, it means Clogging! OK, now I understand.
Then in the next verse, a thief (jumbuck) comes to steal some of the 'shine. That'll teach the engineer to be singing!!!!! Course the engineer isn't gonna stand for that! He grabs the thief and sticks him in his "tucker bag" for safe keeping until Matilda shows up so they can all go clogging. I have no idea what is really meant by tucker bag, but here in the South, we would hog-tie a thief to hold him down.
So far so good. Then in verse three, the Revenuers show up to bust up the still. If the engineer hadn't been so busy singing and hog-tying the thief, he woulda seen them coming and given 'em both barrels. Then the revenuers start asking about the thief. They must already have Matilda in custody, 'cuz they are talking about going clogging with her.
Well, then the story turns sad. The engineer must have a really bad rap sheet and is afraid of doing time, 'cuz the next thing he does is commits suicide by jumping in the still. What a way to go!!!!
But, the revenuers are nice, and leave the still standing as a memorial to the engineer. And he still haunts it to this day, looking for Matilda to go clogging.
Am I missing something? Here in the South we sing about love & devotion, and unfaithfulness & divorce, pride in our work ethic & being a bum; you know, family stuff. I guess these Aussies are like some of those intellectual Yankees up in New York that go to operas. Singing about stuff us common folk don't get.
But I am not here to criticize or make fun, my only wish is to provide a public service to the rest of the English speaking world on how to speak Australian. So, how'd I do y'all?
Lloyd