What does And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda song have to do with remembrance day?

Answer 1

If you read the lyrics carefully, you will see the clear allusions to the war. Remembrance Day is about remembering those fallen in war. In particular, note the following lines:

Then in 1915, my country said son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done.

So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay

And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli

And how well I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water

And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.

Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well. He shower'd us with bullets,

And he rained us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell

Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

The song goes on to tell what it was like in the trenches, and then the quick evacuation out of Gallipoli. And in the end, the song recalls the ANZAC parades, and how slowly, the men who were in World War 1, have disappeared with the passing of time. The song reminds us "Lest We Forget".

And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the parades pass before me.

And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of past glories

And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war

And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call,

But as year follows year, more old men disappear. Someday no one will march there at all.