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Originally Posted by nalk
"Oddly, the tune isn't in 3/4 time, so it's not a waltz" you wrote in the newsletter. Thatīs probably because the phrase "waltzing Mathilda" doesnt mean to dance a waltz i.e. its not a description of the music - Itīs slang.
Waltzing Matilda means making a pot of tea.
In the morning when the Australian lumber jack got out of bed he threw a handful of tea leaves in a tincan and let it boil while he cooked up some bacon. When the bacon was done he ate it with the tea. When he got back to camp in the evening he reheated the remains of the tea and drank it.
The tincan was called "Mathilda". The phrase "Waltzing Mathilda" is slang for making and drinking tea.
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No offence there Nalk, but as an aussie, i have to correct you on that one...
As RockerBob said, the tin can is called a billy...
A matilda is "nickname" as such, for a swag, which is a canvas bag essentially that you sleep in (kinda like a flat single person tent)...
A swagman (swaggy), commonly "humps" his matilda (ie lugs it around with him while he roams the country side). To waltz a matilda, means to lug your swag around with you..
And the song (poem) isnt a 3/4 waltz, like you would dance to. its mearly music put to banjo pattersons poem in 4/4...