"Waltzing Matilda" - Australian Folklore Song (SLOWED AND REVERBED)

Описание: "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".

The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (grazier), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), instead of handing himself over to the corrupt authorities. Then his ghost haunts the site and tells travellers that come near the billabong "You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me".

The original lyrics were composed in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, to a tune played by Christina Macpherson. In 1903, Marie Cowan changed some of the lyrics and wrote a new variation of the tune, and published it in sheet music as an advertising jingle for Billy tea. The song quickly grew in popularity and Cowan's arrangement remains the best known version of "Waltzing Matilda".