Down Under with Chord/Melody Ukulele – “WALTZING MATILDA” – Arranged by Ukulele Mike Lynch

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 on foot with one’s belongings (waltzing, derived from the German auf der Walz) in a “Matilda” (swag) 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…