The Tom Waits song is not only of the same name but is the same song (: And it beats me exactly why he did a version (although I'm very glad he did). I've also heard Harry Belafonte of all people sing a version. To form a cultural equivalent, this song is roughly to us what Yankee Doodle Dandy is to America. And if you want I can tell you what a tucker bag, a billy, a jumbuck, and a Coolabah tree is, too (: Anyway, the basic storyline is that this swagman (kind of like a drifter) steals these sheep (`Jumbuck') and gets caught and taken `waltzing matilda'. So now you know. Now you gotta tell *me* exactly why Yankee Doodle Dandy stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni (: Camille verona_beach@geocities.com @ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442 @ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest > So what was happening in the Tom Waits song of the same name? (And of course > I admit I never knew it meant to take someone to jail.) > Thank you Camille. > > I'm assuming you heard it in Waltzing Matilda (`Once a jolly > >swagman camped by a billabong') And, as any good Aussie school kid (and > >practically no one else) knows - to `waltz matilda' meant `to take someone > >to jail'. It's a real shame these distinctly Australian words are beginning > >to fade out under all the cools and awesomes and suchlike. Camille verona_beach@geocities.com @ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442 @ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest