Waltzing Matilda

In less than an hour, it will be 2011 and I was wondering how to blog about the New Year and the year ending. I thought I would put a song here, it would be more eloquent than the clichés I could type about, well, about time passing. Can be escape clichés when talking about new year?

I was distractly watching a documentary on Rolf Harris recently, and his interpretation of Waltzing Matilda struck me. I knew vaguely that song (from Secret Valley, a children program I used to watch, which used the music but with different lyrics for the theme song), but I literally fell in love with it. Of course I felt in love the way I usually do: flat on my face, heart beating fast, spirit uplifted as if I was an Australian. It got stuck in my head and I want this to be my new drinking song, my Odyssey song (read: my travel song) and, since it will be New Year, my New Year song. I don't know why I fell in love with Waltzing Matilda. I am not particularly into Australia, although I admire some of its actors, particularly Cate Blanchett to whom my admiration is close to worship (which reminds me that I did not spend an evening with her in a long time), I was fascinated as a child about its wildlife and I really want to go to the Sydney Opera House once in my life. Okay, enough reasons to love the country I guess, but my love for this particular folk song is still a mystery to me. Somehow it reminds me of the Irish folk songs I am quite fond of. And the New Year is a good reason as any to put it on this blog. So here it is, sang by Rolf Harris: