Peter Gardiner Marriage Celebrant

Peter Gardiner Marriage Celebrant

Hi Jordan B.

For the Veterans there is a song written by a famous Scottish songwriter who migrated to Australia named Eric Bogle. It is called "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". It is very emotional. Maybe appropriate for you maybe not. But it is poetry and played by the right musician it is truly memorable.Hope this helps.The words are below.

Peter Gardiner, Celebrant and Musician.

Verse 1

When I was a young man I carried a pack

And I lived the free life of a rover,

From the Murray's green banks to the dusty outback,

I waltzed my matilda all over.

Then in 1915, the country said 'Son,

There's no time for rovin', there's work to be done,'

And they gave me a tin hat, and gave me a gun,

And they sent me away to the war.

Chorus: And the band played Waltzing Matilda,

As our ship pulled away from the quay

And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving and tears

We sailed of for Gallipoli.

Verse 2

How well I remember that terrible day

When our blood stained the sand and the water,

And how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay,

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.

Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well,

He showered us with bullets, and rained us with shell,

And in ten minutes flat, he'd blown us to hell,

Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

Chorus: And the band played Waltzing Matilda,

As we stopped to bury the slain.

We buried ours and the Turks buried their's,

Then we started all over again.

Verse 3

They collected the crippled, the wounded and maimed

And the shipped us back home to Australia,

The armless, the legless, the blind and insane

All the brave wounded heroes of Suvla.

And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay,

I looked at the place where my legs used to be,

I thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,

To grieve and to mourn and to pity.

Chorus: And the band played Waltzing matilda

As they carried us down the gangway,

But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared,

And then turned their faces away.

Verse 4

So now every April I sit on my porch,

And I watch the parade pass before me,

And I see my old comrades how proudly they march,

Reliving old dreams and past glories.

But the old men march slowly their bones stiff and sore,

Tired old men from a tired old war,

And the young people ask what are they marching for,

And I ask myself the same question.

Chorus: And the band played Waltzing Matilda

And the old men they answer the call,

But year by year those old men disappear

Soon no one will march there at all