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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
GUEST,Messmate Craigielee/Waltzing Matilda (109* d) RE: Craigielee/Waltzing Matilda 24 Jan 05


I may have been looking in the wrong places but I have not yet seen any reference to either of two parodies of Waltzing Matilda often sung in Australia. Reading through the thread I see reference to the Kuta so I thought I could deal with them here; both were sung to the Cowan tune.

The first purports to be an English original to the Australian but the last verse gives the game away. I'll omit the choruses as they're predictable to anyone who knows the original.

Waltzing a bulldog
Once a jolly vagabond sat down by a lily pond
under the shade of an old oak tree
and he sang as he sat and waited 'til his billy boiled
who'll come a-waltzing a bulldog with me.

Down came a hedgehog to drink at the lily pond
up jumped the vagabond and grabbed him with glee
and he sang as he shoved that hedgehog in his haversac
you'll come a-waltzing a bulldog with me.

Down came the constables riding on his bicycle
up rode the magistrates one two three
where's that jolly hedgehog you've got in your haversac?
You'll come a-waltzing a bulldog with me.

Up jumped the vagabond and sprang into the lily pond
you'll never take me alive said he
but he's sitting now in jail 'cause you can't drown in a lily pond
who'll come a-waltzing a bulldog with me.

I first heard this in Melbourne in mid-1967 and, years later, was told it had been written by John Dengate. Some yearls later I was describing this provenance to somebody and was told that John Dengate had written it in 1967 while on board a passenger ship from Australia to Britain. While I've never asked John to confirm such details this would suggest the parody had made a rather swift return to Australia. Perhaps Bob Bolton could shed light on this.

The other parody was occasionally performed by Richard Leitch, a wonderful reciter in Melbourne during the 1970s. He recited it; even Screech, as he was known, would admit he wasn't much of a singer. It was known as "Wolgang Brunhilde" and the text was largely a mock-German rendition of the text as per Cowan.




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