Subject: The original WALTZING MATILDA ^^ From: Jim Dixon Date: 05 Dec 00 - 04:56 PM Found at Waltzing Matilda Story: WALTZING MATILDA (Original) (Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, 1895) Oh, there once was a swagman camped in the billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he looked at the old billy boiling, Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? (Chorus:) Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda my darling, Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? Waltzing Matilda and leading a waterbag, Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? Down came the jumbuck to drink at the water-hole, Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee, And he sang as he put him away in his tucker-bag, You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me. Up came the Squatter a-riding his thoroughbred, Up came Policemen - one, two and three, Whose is that jumbuck you've got in the tucker-bag? You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me. The swagman he up and he jumped in the water-hole, Drowning himself by the coolibah tree, And his ghost may be heard as it sings by the billabong, Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? ^^ |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Alan of Australia Date: 06 Dec 00 - 03:03 AM G'day, There was an extensive thread on this a while ago, including the lyrics above. Check out the Craigielea/Waltzing Matilda thread.
Cheers, |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: GUEST,Mary Stuart Date: 05 Jan 06 - 05:37 PM Can you supply me with the name of the composer of the words and the music and the story of how or why it was written?, I wish to give a talk or power point to some elderly folk. It would be much appreciated. Thank you very much , Mayry Stuart mastuart@wetserv.net.au |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 05 Jan 06 - 06:09 PM Check the older threads. The story, including posts by Bob Bolton and other Australian experts, is preserved at Mudcat. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Bill D Date: 05 Jan 06 - 06:18 PM this thread |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 05 Jan 06 - 07:01 PM Guest needs only to click on the threads at the head of this one. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waltzing Matilda ("Banjo" Paterson) From: GUEST,charmaine Date: 18 May 06 - 07:58 AM im a student in year 8 secondary and was wondering what this poem was actually about as we have 2 do a critiqe about it |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waltzing Matilda ("Banjo" Paterson) From: BuckMulligan Date: 18 May 06 - 08:08 AM Song of the outback. Eternal conflict between the forces of civilization and the wandering spirit, over a swiped jumbuck. Plug "waltzing matilda" into Google and start plowing through the hits. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waltzing Matilda ("Banjo" Paterson) From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 18 May 06 - 08:19 AM Both in the threads as listed at the top, and at several great web-sites you can find the various thoughts. Not quite sure whether I believe any of them. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waltzing Matilda ("Banjo" Paterson) From: Bill D Date: 18 May 06 - 10:17 AM All one can do is read, speculate, and sing. There is lots to read, speculation is interminable.....so just singing it is the final recourse. Click on the thread I mention above and get started. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: GUEST Date: 04 Mar 07 - 11:54 AM Some of you maybe interested to know the tune most people sing for waltzing matilda came from an english recruitment song and so went to autralia rather ironically with the deserters who were then deported. I believe it goes something like: "Who will join us? Who will join us who will join us? Who will join old Malbrough and me? So we'll march through the streets and alleyways of Rochester singing, Who will join the Duke of Malbrough and me." |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: dick greenhaus Date: 04 Mar 07 - 12:31 PM Sorry, but the "old English recruiting song" came considerably later. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 04 Mar 07 - 01:21 PM The probability, given existing evidence, is that 'The Bold Fusilier' (of which only a fragment survives; the bulk of the song is a modern composition) started out as a parody of 'Waltzing Matilda' rather than the other way around. See, for example, other discussions here where the matter has been touched upon, particularly Craigielee/Waltzing Matilda Marching through Rochester There are two DT files under different titles; both correctly credit the writer (Pete Coe) but neglect to mention that he wrote his song based upon an existing fragment (one verse and chorus, first published, it appears, in The Sydney Bulletin, 1941) of uncertain origin, but of which there is no evidence prior to 'Waltzing Matilda': COME BE A SOLDIER FOR MARLBORO [sic] AND ME MARCHING THROUGH ROCHESTER See also the entry at the Traditional Ballad Index, substantially revised since an earlier, very inaccurate, version was posted (to the amusement of our Australian experts) in an old thread here. Waltzing Matilda |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 04 Mar 07 - 08:13 PM I came across a clever parody story which claims among many things, that there was only ONE trooper - serial number 123, etc.... anybody got it - it might be here at Mudcat somewhere... |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: bubblyrat Date: 05 Mar 07 - 06:30 AM Rolf Harris has pulled the song to pieces, and now reckons that "jumbuck" is not a creature or animal at all, but is ,rather, the Aborigine word for " rubbish" or "junk". At least, that"s what he said last time I saw him in concert ( Sidmouth ) |
Subject: Origin of the word 'jumbuck' From: aussiebloke Date: 06 Mar 07 - 05:16 AM G'day all... |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: aussiebloke Date: 06 Mar 07 - 05:55 AM To: Department of Linguistics University of Melbourne Australia Subject: Origin of 'jumbuck' as used to mean 'sheep' G'day Peter Researching for a discussion thread at http://www.mudcat.org/ has led me to you... We were discussing the origin and meanings of the words used in Waltzing Matilda, including jumbuck, meaning sheep, and found two references in online dictionaries ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jumbucks & http://www.answers.com/topic/jumbuck ) stating that jumbuck was a word of possible Kamilaroi origin. I could not find it listed in your on-line Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay Dictionary. at http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICTF.HTM The word for cloud there is listed as yuru. I have found references to: junbuc jimbuc jimba, jombock, dombock, dumbog meaning: white mist preceding a shower I had previously heard this expressed as small white fluffy cloud. Can you provide opinion on this please? The full thread is here: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=28379 Please feel free to join the discussion, or reply to me direct if you prefer. Cheers aussiebloke Darwin NT |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: aussiebloke Date: 06 Mar 07 - 08:43 AM There is a word listed in the Kamilaroi dictionary for sheep: thimba. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: GUEST,Mike Date: 05 Sep 10 - 03:55 PM I have a 1936 copy of The Oxford Choral Songs featuring Waltzing Matilda. Words and melody reprinted by permission of Messrs. Allan & Co. Prop.Ltd, Melbourne.The origin of the song and music is described by one Thomas Wood in his book "Cobber", as follows: "Yes, "Banjo" Paterson used to stay with old Robert McPherson out at Dagworth Station, years ago.They were driving into Winton (Queensland) one day, in the buggy, along with McPherson's sister and Jack Lawton, the drover. He's told me a tale, many a time. On the way they passed a man carrying swag. "That's what we call 'Waltzing Matilda' in these parts, said McPherson; and "Banjo" Paterson was so struck with the phase that he got a piece of paper and wrote verses there and then. When they go to Winton, his sister, who was a bit of a musician, wrote the tune: and they sang it all night" The tune was attributed to Maria Cowan, the words A.B.Patterson Swagman= a man on tramp carring his swag, which means bundle wrapped up in a blanket; billabong = a water-hole in the dried-up bed of a river; jumbuck = a sheep, squatter = a sheep-farmer on a large scale |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original WALTZING MATILDA From: Bob Bolton Date: 06 Oct 10 - 10:56 PM G'day Mike, It may well have been pastiches of half-truth like this that led to Christina McPherson writing a letter to a folkloric medico in 1938 detailing her memory of the actual events. There is a bundle of (presumably) 'first drafts' in her papers (held by the National Library of Australia) which fits in fairly well with the conclusions published by Richard Magoffin in the 1980s and 1990s ... but stops short of further discussion of Paterson's possibles advances to her ... and the ending of "Banjo's" engagement to her ex-classmate that have been detailed by Magoffin's sometime co-author Denis O'Keefe. Regards, Bob Bolton |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Andrez Date: 26 May 11 - 08:57 PM And of course the post above is completely irrelevant to the thread discussion! Cheers, Andrez |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Bob Bolton Date: 10 Jul 11 - 11:48 PM G'day Andrez, Well ... no! The recent (post 2000) release of Christina McPherson's personal papers provides first-hand evidence of Christina's involvement in the setting of Paterson's words to the fragment of Bulch's arrangement of the musical setting of Thou Bonnie Wood of Graigielea that Christina remembered from its debut, back home in Warnambool. This is quite relevant to the continuing arguments against the facts uncovered by Richard Magoffin and, subsequently detailed by Denis O'Keefe. The truth of the circunstances of composition was the original aim of Jim Dix ... back in 2000 - probably before the Christina McPherson papers were made public. Regards, Bob |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Fergie Date: 11 Jul 11 - 11:59 AM Hi all I transcribed the piece below from The Moretom Bay Courier of Sat. 28th July 1855. Image HERE The phonetric rendering of the Aboriginal phrse may hold a clue to the Aboriginal language that may be the source of the word jimbuck/jumbuck/jumpbuck ABORIGINAL POESY. COMMUNICATED TO THE "GEELONG ADVERTISER." Many people who suppose that the music of the Corobra is appended to, senseless rhapsodies, will be startled to hear that many of the songs, are satire, full of pith, directed by the swarthy improvisatore at the passing events of the day; and others are pure incantations, and war songs full of fearful meaning. The well-known madrigal which begins with; "Boudjerie jumbuck patta gra pat ter gra,'' 'May be literally translated- "Pretty little lampkin, nibble up the grass, nibble up the grass, And unconscious remain of the fast approaching pain, When to cruel butcher's knife thou deliver'st up thy life, And leave thy little playmates careering on the plain." Tho' thou hast done no ill, The white man will thee kill; He has seized the Kootites' lands, And thy blood will stain his hands, And thy lubra young and coy! He'll yard her and he'll guard her, And from the wild dog ward her; Yet he guards but to destroy." One of their poetical shafts is directed at the Church, and is piquant and pointed- "Big, big master's gunya is gloomy and bare! No damper, nor tea, nor mutton is there; But old man book, where yabberan cry; Big master send plenty of tea bye and bye, For him we might fast till corobra day, As on earth 'tis his rule to give nothing away." The following is somewhat Ossianic:- "The sun slept in his trees, pure as the waters of Murrumbridgee; But he is jump up on the morrow covered with blood., It was the red blood of the Roronga, And the Great Spirit grumbled wild Because it was not avenged, And sent storms and big rain to wash it away!" The following, with which we conclude for the present, is sarcastic enough:- 'The whiteman, like a bullock, toils for food, (ln chase the black man finds food and sport together), Takes rum that makes him mad to do him good; (The stream supplies the black - he needs no other). To crown his folly builds a dungeon cold, And is himself the first its walls enfold; For days, or weeks or years he withers there, While the poor black roams free as mountain air." gunya = house. old man book = An old book only yabberan = clergyman. corobra day = Last day. Fergus |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 11 Jul 11 - 01:23 PM 'yabberan'. Excellent! More of those lyrics in Australian papers? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Bob Bolton Date: 11 Jul 11 - 08:05 PM G'day Fergus, Since the (tranlated) lyrics speak of the Murrumbidgee, the Aboriginal language source ought to be a northerly dialect of the Wiradhuri ... a people of "southern New South Wales and northern Victoria" (basically our "Riverina" region, both sides of the Murray River). Although the Wiradhuri language is considered "now extinct" by the compilers of my Oxford Concise Australian Dictionary, there are a number of those who identify with their Wiradhuri heritage ... and John Warner had consultation with them at the time he created his song cycle Yarri of the Waradhuri, dealing with the devastating floods that inundated the early township of Gundagai in the 1840s?. This tells of the courageous efforts of several of the Wiradhuri ... typified by Yarri ... in selflessly rescuing the whites who had foolishly ignored their warnings of the danger of settling and building too close to the volatile river system! I don't know, offhand, if there is any accessible systematic collection of Wiradhuri language and vocabulary from the mid 1800s. Regards, Bob Bolton |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The original Waltzing Matilda From: Bob Bolton Date: 12 Jul 11 - 01:01 AM G'dat again, I searched around the Australian National Dictionary (full Oxford English Dictionary on historical principles treatment of Australian words and terms ... now available on-line at http://203.166.81.53/and/index.php)and there is some suggestion that Jumbuck, if not merely a corruption of (~) "jump-up", could be an Aboriginal word from the Kamilaroi language. Kamilaroi land was further north than Wiradhuri (north of Sydney, not south-west) but the nature of traditional seasonal use of natural resources meant that the different language groups would often cross paths in accessing a shared food source and, I believe this maintained a fairly smooth gradient between adjoining vocabularies. Unfortunately, the text as reported to Mudcat by Fergie doesn't exactly present a scholarly translation ... let alone analysis. However, it is wonderful that, with the internet, we can now access full images of 19th century regional newspapers, like the 28th July 1855 The Moreton Bay Courier (Queensland)... or even the (earlier) Geelong Advertiser (Victoria) source - along with OCR scans, linked directly to the printed text. Regards, Bob |
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