G'day,
Forgot to mention that the Craigielea tune above is as originally published i.e. chorus first.

Here is the Christina McPherson tune for Matilda.

Notes:
1. Christina wrote out a couple of bars incorrectly, having 5 beats instead of 4. I have changed the timing of these 2 bars to 4 beats, leaving the actual notes unchanged.

2. The tune as sung by Dennis O'Keeffe on his CD unfortunately is completely different at this point. In fact the first line of the chorus has basically been replaced with the equivalent part of the tune as we know it today. This arrangement by Magoffin/Berryman.

3. With imagination you can see (hear) the connection to Craigielea. The differences could be explained by (a) The band probably played a variation, in fact they called it "The Craigielea March", (b) Christina may have unconsciously changed the tune in the months between hearing it and the birth of Matilda, (c) It was then adapted to the words, although Banjo said, "I put words to the tune and called it "Waltzing Matilda"'.

4. More imagination links this tune to the two tunes currently in use - evolution by the Folk Process.

Them's my thoughts - take 'em or leave 'em.

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Click to play

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

ABC format:

X:1
T:Waltzing Matilda
M:4/4
Q:1/4=69
K:D
A,D|F2FGE2EF|D2FDB,2DD|A,2DDF2DD|A2GFE2DE|
F2FGE2EF|D2FDB,2DD|A,2DFA2GF|E2DEF2D2|A2ABA2FF|
d2dBA2F2|A2ABB2AA|F2F2E2E2|F2FGE2EF|D2FDB,2DD|
A,2DFA2GF|E2DEF2D2||

Next: Banjo's original words.

Cheers,
Alan