Subject: Re: waltzing matilda
From: smith@theory.cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Date: 1991-03-05, 06:29
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <63166@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v075nkds@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes:
> >The song "Waltzing Matilda" was recently re-recorded by the Irish 
> >band The Pogues, perhaps three years ago. 

Not quite...

``Waltzing Matilda'' is an old (possibly traditional?) Australian song,
played at public gatherings like parades and Rotary Club meetings.  (Check
out the film _The Coca-Cola Kid_.)  Someone from Oz could probably clarify
this.

Recently (in the last twenty years or so) folksinger Eric Bogle wrote an
antiwar song called ``And the Band Played `Waltzing Matilda' ''---about the
bitterness a crippled soldier feels upon his homecoming.  This is the song
covered by the Pogues on their album _Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash_.  I don't
remember which Eric Bogle album the original is on, but you might want to
look for it---it has a much different feel from the Pogues.

There are some people who would also take issue with your claim that the
Pogues are Irish, but I won't touch that...

--Sean

Obligatory TP content: I wrote my letter!