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ANZAC DAY AFTER
Eric Bogle’s And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda:
So now every April I sit on my porch
And I see the parade pass before me
I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams and past glories
I see the old men, all bent, stiff and sore
The tired old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, What are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question
Miserable old git. Record ANZAC Day crowds turned out yesterday in Melbourne, Canberra, across New Zealand, in Warrnambool, Bowral, Wollongong, Launceston, Orange, Ballarat, and most other cities and towns. Evil Pundit has a roundup of blog reaction.
Eric Bogle’s song was an absolute hit
So was “War…Hnnngh…What is it good for?”
So was Farenheit 9/11…
Enough said.
A huge proportion of ex-servicemen are anti-war and did not march.
Well a huge unspecified proportion of current servicemen are appalled by the endless negative coverage of their activities in Iraq, which they feel to be completely worthwhile.
By recognising that freedom requires sacrifice, and what’s more -p ublicly appreciating that sacrifice - Australia’s young people have clearly not been listening to our folk-singers properly.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 04 25 at 11:52 PM • permalinkGerard Henderson Nailed It Yesterday
...the evidence indicates the results, so far, in this verbal struggle have come from the bottom up (Army of Davids Blog model???) and not from the top down.”
...In other words, the revival of interest in the Anzacs has been driven by personal stories, not grand themes. In view of this, it comes as no surprise that many young Australians are unwilling to embrace the prevailing leftist critique that their relatives died in vain fighting other people’s wars.
Posted by knuckleheadwatch on 2006 04 25 at 11:52 PM • permalinkThe song is typical of its time, which was the late 1970s. Anzac Day fell into disfavour some time before that - ref The One Day Of The Year, an Australian play of the early 60s. It’s only regained its original prestige in the last ten or fifteen years.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 04 25 at 11:57 PM • permalinkOnce I saw mountains angry
And ranged in battle-front;
Against them stood a little man,
Aye, he was no bigger than my finger.
“Will he prevail?”
“Surely,” replied this other;
“His grandfathers beat them many times.”
Then did I see much virtue in grandfathers—
At least for the little man
Who stood against the mountains.— Stephen Crane
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 04 26 at 12:10 AM • permalinkSuch a shame that it took until most of the WW1 diggers passed on for those of my generation to wake up and recognise Anzac Day for what it is. A terrible shame. And shameful. Many still haven’t woken up. Some never will.
It’s true that Bogle’s song is a product of its times. But has he changed his tune by now?
At 10:30am yesterday morning I attended the first ANZAC day service held for many years at Berrima in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.
It was held in our little Memorial park underneath a spreading beech tree that was planted by Sir Henry Parks. The weather was sunny and cold and local speakers included our minister and several returned soldiers. A piper played Amazing Grace and we all responded to the “going down of the sun”. At the conclusion a fine bugler from a local school played the last post.
As I stood in the crowd of several hundred with my wife by my side and holding my five year old daughter in my arms, memories flooded back to me of my father, grandfather and uncles all of whom served in the great wars. I admit that I cried.
As a footnote, over 1000 people attended the dawn service at Mittagong. Amazing grace!
Bogle certainly was reflecting a strong view held during the 70s in particular. Of course his prediction in the song that “soon no-one will march there at all” has proved to be wildly wrong.
I doubt that Bogle will have changed his tune or admit to being mistaken. His other well known song “No-Mans Land” suggests he has a pretty strong view on WW1. Actually No Mans Land is a more moving song with less overt editorialising.
I just found And the Band Played… a bit condescending and having the WW1 digger doing the complaining about the march seems a mite presumptious to me, even though I don’t doubt there were ex-serviceman with that view.
We live in a growing suburb which, in times past, was a little township with its own cenotaph.
In the nine years Nicky and I have lived there we’ve seen the ANZAC Day service grow from 150 to 1500.
Although, the students and community groups marching outnumbered actual diggers by 100 to 1…
—NoraPosted by The Thin Man Returns on 2006 04 26 at 12:34 AM • permalinkMy favourite true story about Australian soldiers in WWI that I read about in a military history - alas, I have lost the reference - was of some Diggers in France who towards the end of the war, overran some German positions.
Amongst other things, they captured some carrier pigeons, hastily scrawled some notes advising the huns to go fuck themselves, attached them to the birds, and sent them back to headquarters.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 04 26 at 12:44 AM • permalink#12 MM,
I was told this story by a friend of mine whose grandfather was in the mechanised cavalry during WWII.According to her grandad:
A tank manned by Australians was disabled by a German tank.
The German officer popped the lid of his tank and yelled in impeccable English:
“Australians you have fought bravely. Surrender now and you will be well treated.”
Eventually an Australian appeared at the top of his tank and yelled his broadest strine:
“Youse can all go get fucked for a start.”
After a few minutes conferring for a translation the Germans blew the tank to smithereens.
Possibly apocryphal, but so typical.
Another story I read was the Australians would make up Japanese battle flags by copying writing found on discarded condensed milk tins. They’d then sell these ‘authentic’ flags to the Yanks.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2006 04 26 at 01:07 AM • permalinkBogle’s song is sung from the point of view of a digger who has lost both legs. It was written in 1972.
Posted by gustov_deleft on 2006 04 26 at 02:20 AM • permalinkWas it that early Gustov? I know Bogle only emigrated to Oz in the early 70s. If that’s the case he didn’t waste any time getting stuck in so to speak.
I wonder if Bogle just thought he was summing up a common attitude he came across when he arrived in Oz. As he would have been in with the folk music crowd its likely he thought the views were more widespread than they probably were.
Gustov is correct. It is written from the point of view of a maimed digger - an imaginary one.
I’m sure that there were plenty of incapacitated diggers who thought that way.
Anyhow, it’s a good song. I wouldn’t make too much of it. Making a deal out of it would be like slagging off “Brown Sugar” because it’s sexist and/or racist.
“Youse can all go get fucked for a start.”
I wonder whether it was a relative of Australian boxer Jeff Fenech, who was known for his fondness for pluralising the 2nd person in English the same way it is done in Latin and French.
I heard Jeff is getting the lead in the sequel to Silence of the Lambs. It’s called ‘Shut up, ewes’.
Posted by Flying Giraffe on 2006 04 26 at 04:50 AM • permalinkWhy the good singers are lefty wusses I don’t know.
Good question. I took some songs by Phil Ochs off the net over the weekend. He was as lefty as they come, I suppose, but some of his work wasn’t really right or left. Songs such as When I’m Gone or Outside A Small Circle Of Friends are just about life, pure and simple.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 04 26 at 06:29 AM • permalinkNo Bogle hasn’t changed his views he still sings the same songs..No Man’s Land is recorded better by the Furies.
He plays very small venues…
Was he ever a Scots Soldier -I doubt it.
(Youse might come from Ireland- I have heard it used often by newly arrived Irish temp workers).Bogle’s most liked song was probably “Somebody’s Moggie”.In 1974 I spent about half a day at Gallipoli. This was before it became a popular “tourist” attraction for aussies doing the Euro trip so I only ran into a couple of countrymen, One of them was young Uni student who I gathered had been doing his fair share of protesting about our involvement in the Vietnam war which was still going at the time.
He told me he had crawled all over the area and was in awe of the place and the men who had fought and died there. His new found respect for those men was heartening to observe.
Anzac cove and the surrounding ridges were inspiring to me. Quiet, picturesque and isolated but a feeling the ground was a piece of Australia. Sounds a bit corny I know but I found it a very moving experience at the time.
I’m glad to see Anzac Day has had something of a revival.
John Williamson version here http://www.malleeboy.com/music/matilda.ram
denigrating our nation and its soldiers was the zeitgeist of the 1970s. little wonder then if our vietnam vet.s identified with the WW1 veteran of Bogle’s song when they got home. Bogle’d be right up there with those redgum fuckers - spitting on the diggers from a great height while feigning empathy. but the veterans and the nation has the last laugh. we honour our soldiers and remember their service with pride, but if we remember those other turds at all it is for their treachery posing as virtue. and so it will be with those who now try to undermine the west’s war against the islamofascists. piss be upon them
Dead right, murph. I am used to my artistic heroes being utter moonbats. The only painter who I had any time for politically (and he was a bit of a loon) was Pro Hart, but regarding his work I have to say I’m with the critics who all got sledged when he died.
Hell - artists should be detached from reality. Rational art would be so boring.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 04 26 at 09:17 AM • permalinkIn the paper today a small piece about Curtin in the pre war period…he was friends with the Japanese ambassador to Australia at the time.Said ambassador allegedly gave him a subtle hint about the immediacy of the threat of war.
Curtin was supposed to have tried to make a deal with Japan over minerals which Australia would supply to Japan if they agreed to leave Australia out of their plans.Then he was supposed to have dropped the project after war was declared.Interesting article.My ANZAC observations.
My parents came out here to Oz from Germany in the late 50’s (I was born in 1961). We never paid any attention to ANZAC Day when I was a kid, it was just another pleasant public holiday. Going to school in the 70’s, you can imagine what sort of leftist, anti-military tripe was being fed to we poor kids by the luvvies of the day, so I never troubled to learn any better.
Fast forward to my early 20’s, I start seeing a young lass who would later become, and still is, my wife. Her father was a 39er (already in the services before the war started). Served on destroyers in the Med and on HMAS Australia in the Pacific during the latter part of the war. ANZAC Day was virtually a holy day for my wife’s family and through them I came to understand it. Haven’t missed a march now for over 20 years, even though father-in-law has passed on.
Wonderful Australian tradition - serious, thoughtful, reflective & spiritual in the morning, start drinking about lunch time after the march & pissed as a maggot by dinner time :) How Aussie’s that!
Crash was that the one with the last line"He’s nobody’s moggie now”. That was a good one.
I’m trying to think of Muso’s with at least suspected non-left leanings.
I think Frank Zappa was one. Alice Cooper also comes to mind (judging by his Denton interview).
I’m not sure about the guys from the Who. I remember Roger Daltrey saying something about no being into all the peace and love bullshit epitomised by Woodstock.
It’s not easy. And of more recent muso’s i can’t think of any.
I see the old men, all bent, stiff and sore
The tired old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, What are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question
Well, I thought that this reflected a time when there was concern that there would be a day when noone would march. There are no more WWI veterans left.If some stuffed shirts in the RSL* had their way there wouldn’t be any more marching after all the diggers die.
* Returned Services League (supposed to be a Veterans and Servicemen’s [and Women’s!] Association), affectionately known as the “Rissole”, as in Rissole Club (RSL Club).
War is bad. Noone wants to go to war. But sometimes you just have to.
‘And the young people ask, What are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question.’Contra Bogle, et al:
Well, one very intelligent WWII warrior Peter Ryan, the reluctant publisher of Manning Clark’s very warped History of Australia, says he didn’t march until 2000.Then he answered the question, and now he wouldn’t miss one, even though he’s about 80.
For those who don’t know this delightful gem:
Somebody’s moggy by the side of the road
Somebody’s pussy who forgot his highway code
Someone’s favorite feline who ran clean out of luck
When he ran on to the road and tried to argue with a truck
Yesterday he purred and played in his pussy paradise
Decapitating tweety birds and masticating mice
Now he’s just six pounds of raw mincemeat that don’t smell very nice
He’s nobody’s moggy now.All you who love your pussy be sure to keep him in
Don’t let him argue with a truck, the truck is bound to win
And upon the busy road, don’t let him play or frolic
If you do I’m warning you it could be CATastrophic
If he tries to play on the roadway, I’m afraid that will be that
There will be one last despairing MEOW! and a sort of squelchy splat
And your pussy will be slightly dead and very, very flat
He’s nobody’s moggy, just red and squashed and soggy
He’s nobody’s moggy nowAnd another fune one, Little Gomez:
Oh, I used to have a doggie and I called him little Gomez
Because he was a Mexican Chihuahua
Though there wasn’t much to him what there was all cojones
In fact he was a randy little fella big dogs, small dogs were all the same to him
The canine equivalent of Errol Flynn
At the drop of a sombrero he’d jump up and get stuck in
Taking Gomez out for walkies was embarassin’I remember one day in the park his tally rose by four
An enviable score he was amassing, two very patient poodles and an Irish Labrador
And a wombat who just happened to be passing
I tried every way to curb his carnal appetite
I kept him on a leash by day, I locked him up at night
I even put some bromide in his chunky meaty bites
But the only thing that might have worked was KryptoniteThen came the fateful day when he tried to consummate
A liaison with a Saint Bernard from Dublin
And although he was quite clearly fighting well above his weight
He didn’t let that minor detail stop him
He nearly pulled it off, oh, what an acrobat!
But the bitch got bored and down she sat
Well, they say that after making love you sometimes feel quite flat
I’m sure that little Gomez would agree with thatI buried Gomez in the park, his happy hunting ground a sad but fitting finale
Though I had to make a grave that was very flat and round
‘Cause he looked like squashed tamale
But oh, how I missed my wee Chihuahua chum
I went down to the pet shop to find another one
I went there feeling happy, but I left there feeling glum
Because the man behind the counter loved corny punsAnd he said “Yes, we have no Chihuahuas we have no Chihuahuas today
We have Alstations, Dalmatians, fruits of all flirtations,
An alpine Pekinese in a toupee
But yes, we have no Chihuahuas we have no Chihuahuas today”Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 04 26 at 10:45 PM • permalink#25 Crash
You’re right the Furey’s do sing “No Man’s Land” better. Actually many Irish people who don’t listen fully to the lyrics assume that because the dead soldier has an Irish name (Willie MacBride, and “youse” is exactly a word that someone with such a name would use, if you’ll pardon the pun) and because he “died in 1916”, the year of the Easter Rising, that “No Man’s Land” is some sort of rebel song.
Come to that “And the Band Played” is sung better by the Pogues that bunch of Londoners who like to pretend to be Irish. They give it the earthiness it deserves. I too like the song and just skip over the irritating last verse.
Now that I think of it the Dubliners sing Bogle’s “Leaving Nancy” better than him, what is it with this guy and Irish bands?
Posted by Harry Flashman on 2006 04 26 at 11:19 PM • permalinkYou know, maybe “what are they marching for” is supposed to mean “bastards could stop and have a drink with a legless mofo on his porch.” Dreaming on. Thanks to all who showed up for Anzac Day, for Uncle Phil forever 20, for Grandad, for great-uncle Alan and Mum’s cousin Bryn of HMAS Canberra, and all the others who did it. We do the honors for ours here on Memorial Day, end of May, and again Veterans Day Nov. 11th and will be thinking of yours.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 04 27 at 01:54 AM • permalinkI forgot to mention the other grandad. Does getting locked up in Pinchgut for going AWOL to chase Granma count?
Posted by crittenden on 2006 04 27 at 11:14 AM • permalinkMaybe the obvious rise in interest for Anzac Day is in answer to the Multiculturists and the lefties constant denigration of Australia and Australians. The mongrels who always put us down are verging on treason and they should be treated as such.
It is terrific to see the youth of Australia showing their respect and admiration for those who fought to keep this country free.
Pity the pollies hadn’t fought as well.
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Eric Bogle’s song was an absolute hit and really wrapped up how many Australians of that time saw Gallipoli and ANZAC Day. It smells a little of political correctness today, but it absolutely was a fair comment. A huge proportion of ex-servicemen are anti-war and did not march.