Banjo Paterson · Key of G · Public domain
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This chart is written in G. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in G with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the E shapes, or capo 5 with the D shapes, or capo 7 with the C shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
Waltzing Matilda is Australia's unofficial national song, and it was written on a sheep station. In 1895 the poet A. B. "Banjo" Paterson was staying at Dagworth Station in outback Queensland when Christina Macpherson played him a tune she had heard a brass band play at the Warrnambool races the year before, an arrangement of the Scottish air Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea. Paterson fitted words to it: a swagman camps by a billabong, takes a jumbuck for his tucker bag, and jumps into the water rather than be taken by the squatter and three troopers. The shearers' strike of 1894, and the death of a striking shearer near Dagworth that September, were fresh in local memory, which is why many hear more than a tall tale in it.
The version everyone sings is not quite Paterson's. He sold the song to the publisher Angus and Robertson in January 1903 for five pounds, and that year the Sydney tea merchant James Inglis had Marie Cowan rework the words and tune to advertise his Billy Tea; her 1903 printing, with its "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me", is the one that spread across Australia and the world. Australian troops sang it in both world wars, it came second to Advance Australia Fair in the 1977 national song plebiscite, and Slim Dusty sang it to close the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Paterson died in 1941 and Cowan in 1919, so words and tune are long out of copyright.
Three chords carry the whole song: G, C and D7, with a quick D on the passing changes of the third line. Each verse stays on G for its first line and a half, lands on D7 at "tree", then runs G, D, G, C across "sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled" and closes G, D7, G on "Matilda, with me". The chorus starts on G, reaches C at the end of its first line, and its second line can take Em and Am on the way to D7, or stay on G if you want it plainer. Keep a brisk, steady four and swing the dotted rhythm of "waltzing Matilda" a little. The third line of each chorus repeats the third line of the verse just sung, as the 1903 printing has it, so the chart writes out all four choruses in full.
Waltzing Matilda in other easy guitar keys: key of A, key of C, key of D, key of E, key of F. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of G, Waltzing Matilda uses 6 chords: G, D7, D, C, Em and Am. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of G. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of A, key of C, key of D, key of E, key of F, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
A swagman is a travelling worker who carries his bedroll, the swag, which is also his "Matilda"; waltzing Matilda means walking the roads with it. A billabong is a waterhole left behind when a river changes course, a coolibah is a eucalyptus tree, a billy is a tin can for boiling tea, a jumbuck is a sheep and a tucker bag holds food. The squatter is the wealthy landholder and the troopers are mounted police.
Yes. Banjo Paterson wrote the words in 1895 and died in 1941; Marie Cowan, whose 1903 arrangement is the version everyone sings, died in 1919. Words and tune are out of copyright in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and everywhere else. Only particular later arrangements belong to anyone, and this chart uses none of them.
Another song for a singing crowd: The Wild Rover chords and lyrics
All the campfire and folk song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: Waltzing Matilda (Wikipedia)
