This is Liam Clancy singing Eric Bogle’s “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” live on stage. It isn’t the old “Waltzing Matilda”. It’s a 1971 anti-war song about a young Australian who loses his legs at Gallipoli. Below I cover the story behind it, how Irish singers made it their own, and the Irish soldiers who died on those same beaches.
I was browsing YouTube one Friday, as I usually do, when I came across this. It has to be one of my favourite covers I have ever heard.
It’s the great Liam Clancy, live on stage. The performance runs just under seven minutes and I promise you won’t be disappointed. You can almost see Liam picturing every scene as he sings.
One correction. I used to call this a Waltzing Matilda cover. It’s actually Eric Bogle’s “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”, a different song.
Here it is. Give it the full seven minutes.
A YouTube user uploaded the clip in May 2008 and it has now passed 11 million views. The video doesn’t say where or when the concert was filmed.
One YouTube viewer put it well: an Australian song, written by a Scotsman, sung by an Irishman.
Who sings this version? Liam Clancy
Liam Clancy singing the song live, a still from the video
Liam Clancy was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. He was the youngest of 11 children, RTÉ reported.
He emigrated to the US in 1956, according to the BBC. With his brothers and Tommy Makem, he was part of one of the best-known folk acts in America.
A spot on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961 led to a sold-out Carnegie Hall the following year, the BBC said. Bob Dylan called him the best ballad singer he had ever heard.
Makem and Clancy’s 1976 recording
Liam rejoined Tommy Makem as a duo in 1975, according to his University of Limerick honorary doctorate citation. Their 1976 album, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, included this song.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2002 that Clancy and Makem took it to number one in Ireland in 1976.
Liam died in Cork on 4 December 2009, aged 74, RTÉ reported.
Who wrote it? Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle was born in Peebles, Scotland, in 1944. He emigrated to Australia in 1969, according to the Australian War Memorial.
He was working as an accountant in Canberra in 1971 when he watched his first Anzac Day march. That march gave him the song.
Bogle has told the War Memorial it was the earliest of his anti-war songs. He was involved in the movement against the Vietnam War at the time.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) calls it a veiled protest against Australia’s part in Vietnam.
Bogle had read about Gallipoli since he was 12, from old wartime magazines he bought at a jumble sale in Peebles, the Herald reported.
From a Canberra folk club to the world
The Herald reported that it took him about two weeks to write. It started with eight verses, which he cut to five.
He first sang it at the Hotel Kingston folk club in Canberra.
The English folk singer June Tabor recorded it in 1976. Bogle told the paper he still rated her version the best.
Bogle’s own recording is on his album Now I’m Easy (1980), the NFSA says.
By 2011 it had been recorded almost 140 times, the NFSA says. Bogle summed up the result to the Herald: “A lot of people now think the song is traditional.”
APRA named it one of the top 30 Australian songs in 2001. The NFSA added it to its Sounds of Australia collection in 2016.
What is And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda about?
A young Australian has spent his days roaming the outback, free as you like. In 1915 he joins up and is sent off to Gallipoli.
The landing is a slaughter. He fights on for weeks among the dead and dying. Then a shell catches him, and he wakes to find he has lost both legs.
He is sent back to Australia. The cheering that saw the troops off is long gone when the wounded come back.
The last part jumps forward to his old age. He sits on his porch as the Anzac Day march goes by. Fewer old comrades pass every year, and younger onlookers no longer know what the march is about.
Anti-war, not anti-soldier
Bogle has said the song is against war, not against the men who fought. The Herald reported that Vietnam veterans took to it more than veterans of any other war.
Two small mistakes Bogle admits
Bogle has owned up to two errors, the Herald said. Most Anzacs landed at Anzac Cove, not Suvla Bay. He used Suvla because it rhymed better and Australians linked it with Gallipoli.
The song also mentions tin hats. Steel helmets weren’t issued until 1916, in France.
Is it the same song as Waltzing Matilda?
No. “Waltzing Matilda” was written by A.B. “Banjo” Paterson in 1895, at Dagworth Station near Winton, Queensland. He set his words to a tune played by Christina Macpherson, the NFSA says.
It’s the tale of a swagman, a stolen sheep and a billabong. To go “waltzing Matilda” meant tramping the roads with your swag, or bedroll, on your back.
It wasn’t recorded until 1927, in London. The NFSA calls it one of Australia’s most loved songs and its unofficial national anthem.
Bogle’s song is a separate piece with its own story. Near the end, he weaves in Paterson’s old melody, with a few of its words changed.
The band strikes up the jaunty old tune while broken men march past. That contrast is the whole point.
The Pogues and And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Plenty of people know this song best from The Pogues. It closes their 1985 album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, produced by Elvis Costello.
The band was fronted by Shane MacGowan at the time.
The Official Charts Company shows it entering the UK albums chart at number 18 in August 1985. It peaked at number 13 the following week.
Still playing it 40 years on
Spider Stacy, James Fearnley and Jem Finer played the album in full on a UK tour in May 2025, with guest singers.
The Pogues were also on the line-up for Bluesfest in Byron Bay in 2026.
The Irish at Gallipoli
This is where the song becomes an Irish one too.
V Beach and the River Clyde
On 25 April 1915, the 1st Battalions of the Royal Dublin, Royal Munster and Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers landed at Cape Helles, according to the Department of the Taoiseach.
The Dublins and Munsters were the first off the SS River Clyde, a collier run ashore at V Beach.
Of the first 200 men off the ship, 149 were killed and 30 wounded, the Department says. The Dublins started with 25 officers and 987 men. Only one officer and 374 men got ashore.
The survivors of the two battalions were merged into one. History Ireland records their nickname: “the Dubsters”.
Suvla Bay and the 10th (Irish) Division
Remember Suvla Bay, named in Bogle’s song? The 10th (Irish) Division fought there from August 1915.
According to the Department of the Taoiseach, they had no maps or orders. Their artillery had gone to France and water was short. Some men threw stones when the ammunition ran out.
At least 3,411 men serving with Irish battalions were killed or missing at Gallipoli, the Department says. The last troops left in January 1916.
More than 8,000 Australians died there, the Australian War Memorial says. Anzac Day began as the day to remember them, every 25 April.
Where to find the lyrics
I haven’t printed the lyrics. They’re Eric Bogle’s words, and he should get the royalties.
You’ll find them on licensed services, such as Apple Music, Spotify or Google’s lyrics panel.
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda FAQ
What is And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda about?
A young Australian loses both legs at Gallipoli in 1915. Years later he watches the Anzac Day march as his old comrades dwindle.
Who wrote And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda?
Eric Bogle, a Scot who moved to Australia in 1969. He wrote it in 1971 after watching an Anzac Day march in Canberra.
Is it the same song as Waltzing Matilda?
No. Banjo Paterson wrote “Waltzing Matilda” in 1895. Bogle’s song tells a different story and borrows Paterson’s tune near the end.
Who sings the best-known Irish versions?
Liam Clancy, solo and with Tommy Makem, and The Pogues on their 1985 album Rum Sodomy & the Lash.
Why does an Australian war song matter in Ireland?
Irish regiments fought and died at Gallipoli, at V Beach and Suvla Bay. At least 3,411 men from Irish battalions were killed or missing there.
More from Irish Around The World
- Danny Boy for St Patrick’s Day
- Celtic Thunder Sings Amazing Grace
- St Patrick’s Day Music
- Irish Quotes
- Top 10 Irish Toasts
- Facts About Ireland
Featured photo: Landing of Australian troops at ANZAC Cove, 25 April 1915 slnsw by Published by Brookes, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
A little bit of Ireland in your inbox every Friday ☘️
The free Weekly Dose of Irish: an Irish joke, a Celtic symbol, an Irish fact, a poem and the week’s best articles in one short email. Join 9,600+ readers.
Free. One short email every Friday. Unsubscribe any time.
Jackie
Monday 12th of December 2022
Amazingly moving
George Andrews
Friday 9th of September 2022
That song Waltzing Matilda sung bye Liam Clancy very moving have never heard the full version before I’m from the UK we always sung the chorus that’s all we knew tu