THANK YOU!! He did it justice - Aussie slang is not an easy task to decipher, and there’s many different interpretations of this song in particular! Ol Slim would’ve been proud to think that THE Johnny (and June) Cash would one day be singing his song ❤ Everyone needs to chill and enjoy instead of stressing the tiny details 🙄
U571 ...these guys were the prize guys of entertainment. ..they were proper people who adored the audience. ...that was US. .today oh forget it...talent will survive today .
The man was a legend. As an Aussie iknow a few things were a little off but our American mates would have got the gyst of the story. We should encourage others to enjoy our culture and not be too precious about it
Hearing Cash’s golden voice sing my nation’s cultural anthem is damn near enough to make me cry. I’m glad other cultures can appreciate the beauty of this song ❤
How hard is teapot n sheep??? Hell, this American can't understand half of what you Aussies say, but hot damn, a hobos rotating mutton...I knew that!!!
Little did Johnny know that one day this would be put on the internet for the world to catch him out on his ruse... (In his defence. I have a habit of talking a bit of bollocks myself when I don't think anyone knows any better)
Jumbuck is an Australian term for a male sheep. A Billy is a tallish pot with a handle to boil water in....Johnny legend of a man, thank you for singing an old Aussie traditional..
Nah, stop simping over the legends, no doubt johnny was amazing in his era, but his voice wasn't special, he had a very natural american ol folks voice, but in comparingson to people like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Heck, even Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin, see those men had amazing voices
@@lennon7978 you have a narrow view of the voice as an instrument. Very few people sound like johnny, he has a very distinct oldschool narrators voice that not anyone can pull off. Its not all about hitting highs and lows, its about atmospheres, feelings, spirit, aesthetics. Its art and there are many brushes.
@@lennon7978a very disrespectful comment. Cash had one of the best baritone ranges in our history. He’s up there with the likes of Elvis. If you know anything about music you will know how special and rare a baritone range is. And all the more rare is that he was able to bring his voice to the masses. I think this man deserves all the respect and plaudits he gets.
The song Waltzing Matilda was adopted as the official song of the 1st Marine Division after its members fought alongside Australian servicemen in the Pacific Theatre. It was actually played for George Washington’s birthday in February 1943! With the surrender of Japan, the band returned to the United States and the song has stayed with the Division ever since.
When I was a kid in country Australia, my parents would let me stay up late on that one night of the week that Johnny’s show was on TV. He was very popular here. I have heaps of his songs on my phone.
Actual Aussie slang translation Swagman- early Australian pioneer type person who travelled the land Billabong - waterhole Billy-small pot for boiling water over a campfire usually for tea and coffe Jumbuck-sheep
And the Matilda is German for swag, the waltzing Matilda came about from swagmen using them as dancing partners out bush to entertain themselves whilst out droving as there were no women.
I performed this song as a set piece in the Kenya national music festival year 1994 at KICC Amphitheatre emerging one of the best performers. Up to date i love this Australian cultural anthem .... Waltzing Matilda.
Johnny, thank you. What a treat even all these years later to hear you sing a very treasured song still taught in our school curriculum today. Also thank you for the Adelaide shout out! 🥰
I'm 27 the youngest of 10 kids and they all listened to 2pac and so on while I listened to country with my mother and father, I can't believe I haven't seen this. Love it and still missing ol johnny cash !
As a 10 year old in Los Angeles, I fell in love with Waltzing Matilda while watching the 1959 post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film "On the Beach". To this day, I am still touched when I listen to that majestic film score of Waltzing Matilda. Even when I hear Waltzing Matilda performed on You tube, this Aussie folk ballad will stay with me for days.
"Waltzing Matilda" was adopted by the 1st Marine Division from when they were based in Australia after fighting at Guadalcanal. It's an official divisional tune. They also wear the Southern Cross constellation on their shoulder patch, because that's off the Australian flag. All their camps, when based in a war zone, are called "Matilda". Btw, a jumbuck is a sheep, not a small deer. :)
I saw this on tv the other day, and this song has been stuck in my head ever since. Well done, Mr. Cash. This is the same episode that Mr. Merle Ronald Haggard guest starred on. Both of my favorite classic country singers on the same show. Doesn't get any better.
Ah, this brings back memories. We used to sing this at my old Montessori school. I had not a care in the world for the entirety of my first through third grade years. I remember when I used to be an active wholesome innocent chid who liked school. Literally my school was the incarnation of a wholesome dreamland. The students would randomly brake out in song and we would just play all day everyday and hug trees. Good times.
You're right. 'Waltzing Matilda' means to wander all over our land on foot. Back in the day men walked everywhere from farm to farm looking for work of any kind.
To add to Steve, a Matilda was a kind of swag, which is a sleeping mat. Also to take all of your possessions with you. Cash does miss translate a wee bit though. Swaggies aren't necessarily hobos, a billy isn't a stew but rather a small kind of camping pot, a jumbuck is a male sheep.
Wow. I really was surprised to see this. Wouldn’t have thought he would know this song. He did a great job with the help of his lovely wife June. Thanks John from an Aussie
Came from Halk Arenasi presented by Ugur Dundar (Turkish TV Programmer) shown on Halk TV dated March 23rd 2018... He talked about Eric Bogle and asked the audience to go to RU-vid and search for this video. Here I am... and its amazing to listen this from Johnny Cash whom I listened when I was growing up in Turkey / Istanbul.
Song for the day. "Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia". The title is Australian slang for travelling by foot with one's goods (waltzing, derived from the German auf der Walz) in a "Matilda" (bag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a sheep to eat. When the sheep's owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft, the worker commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole, after which his ghost haunts the site. The original lyrics were written in 1895 by poet and nationalist Banjo Paterson. It was first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that the song has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, Queensland. In 2012, to remind Australians of the song's significance, Winton organized the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day to be held on 6 April, the anniversary of its first performance. The song was first recorded in 1926 as performed by John Collinson and Russell Callow.] In 2008, this recording of "Waltzing Matilda" was added to the Sounds of Australia registry in the National Film and Sound Archive which says that there are more recordings of "Waltzing Matilda" than any other Australian song. The Australian poet Banjo Paterson wrote the words to "Waltzing Matilda" in January 1895 while staying at a bush station in western Queensland, the Dagworth Homestead near Winton owned by the Macpherson family. The words were written to a tune recited by 21 year-old Christina Macpherson, one of the family members at the station. Macpherson had been taken with "The Craigielee March" which she heard played by a military band while attending the Warrnambool steeplechase horse racing in Victoria during 1894, and played it back by ear at Dagworth. Paterson decided that the music would be a good piece to set lyrics to, and produced the original version during the rest of his stay at the station and in Winton Glossary The lyrics contain many distinctively Australian English words, some now rarely used outside of the song. These include: waltzing - derived from the German term auf der Walz, which means to travel while working as a craftsman and learn new techniques from other masters before returning home after three years and one day, a custom which is still in use today among carpenters. Matilda - a romantic term for a swagman's bundle. See below, "Waltzing Matilda". Waltzing Matilda - from the above terms, "to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag, that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or cloth swagman - a man who travelled the country looking for work. The swagman's "swag" was a bed roll that bundled his belongings. billabong - an oxbow lake (a cut-off river bend) found alongside a meandering river. coolibah tree- a kind of eucalyptus tree which grows near billabongs. jumbuck - a sheep. billy - a can for boiling water in, usually 2--3 pints. tucker bag - a bag for carrying food ("tucker"). troopers - policemen Squatter - Australian squatters started as early farmers who raised livestock on land which they did not legally have the right to use; in many cases they later gained legal use of the land even though they did not have full possession, and became wealthy thanks to these large land holdings. The squatter's claim to the land may be as uncertain as the swagman's claim to the jumbuck.
Actually, as an Australian I can say it was just called a Swag, Matilda is just a girls name. The reason it's called Waltzing Matilda is because it shows the lonely life of which everything he ever needs and he has in his life is in that bag. So he affectionately calls her Matilda. The Waltzing is true but many think he got up with the heavy bag and Waltzed with it like his beloved Matilda. It shows the loneliness of swagmen.
We're a little late in getting into this thread aussiefirie but like Greta Little I did some interpretation that in my case I guess was off the mark. I had already read or heard everything that kitsus mitsus posted EXCEPT for "billy" being slang for a small tin pot. I had always thought the meaning of "waiting 'till his billy boiled" was that the swagman was boiling "mutton" from a goat. Thus, even though the swagman had at least some meat, a future meal of real mutton was too tempting when compared with his fare of billy-goat which led him to grab the jumbuck. I see I was wrong, but still it would have been quaint way of describing his meal.
Actually, a 'billy' is the tin can used to boil tea or whatever in over an open fire...often a tin can was saved and refurbished with a wire handle to be used as a tea billy
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PFCekeoSTwg.html And the band played waltzing matilda And Shel Silverstein wrote "Boy named Sue" and a lot of Dr Hooks songs.
@@monique8641 Get over your problem with Johnny Cash. His baritone voice is rare and a gift. If you can’t appreciate it then please research vocal ranges. Johnny Cash was almost unparalleled - few people including Elvis could compete. As for the rendition of Waltzing Matilda lots of people have done it. Including the icon that is Kylie Minogue. Check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3_a2W0dEj_Y.html Slim was brilliant and many others. But this does not diminish Johnny Cash’s legacy or his talent.
A Billy is short for Billican here in the Uk which is probably the same in OZ, which is a small saucepan with a wire handle that folds down when not in use. They usually are supplied in threes which fit one inside eachother to save room. The biggest one is used for boiling water to wash up after cooking. Anyway great song great singer.
I am Chinese Australian who has lived in this country for more than 20 years. Every time I listen to this song, I consider myself more Australian than Chinese. It is such a great song and symbol of Australian spirit.
A "Matilda" is the actual kit of all supplies needed to be camping long term in the outback.... so, to go "Waltzing Matilda" is when you are literally moving from one camping spot to another. Also, as others have already pointed out, a jumbuck is a sheep. That is why the troopers went after him in the first place.... for having 'stolen' someone's livestock.
Firstly, water is boiled in a billy and this is to make tea- always with a gum leaf added, a jumbuck is a sheep. Coolibah- is a common mispronounciation of Eucalyptus coolabah and coolibah is the spelling Banjo Patterson used when he first wrote the poem. I have always pronounced it coolabah. The title "Waltzing Matilda" was Australian slang for travelling on foot with one's belongings in a (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 (landowner), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and drowns himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), to avoid being captured after which his ghost haunts the site. The song strikes a chord with Australians because it is deeply imbedded in our psyche to defy authority and which the song is clearly about. That being said, I wish Johnny had sung the whole aong because the part Australian's get all teary and proud about is when the Swagman drowns himself rather than be captured by the enemy (police) "And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong: "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."
@@monique8641you are on quite a mission aren’t you? Multiple posts rubbishing this wonderful attempt by Cash to highlight this wonderful song. His baritone pitch is not to be underestimated. He hits low notes most of us would be gasping to replicate with ease.
LOL...some of his defintions were a bit off the mark....it was great to hear Johnny singing our song....thanks for posting it..Cheers from Down Under...
I never knew Johnny cash sang irish music i just learned famous country legend love singing irish music great job becuse i love irish music and county music and good rocknroll. Oct 2020
Would loved to sit by a camp fire sipping Pappy Van Winkle and listing to Slim Dusty, Woody Guthrie and Johnney Cash sing about Ned Kelly and Pretty Boy Floyd.
Best billies were the old milk tins with wire for a handle and to mix the tea or coffee you would spin the billy in a full circle without spilling a drop of it
