Australian country music link Australia's vast distances. Isolation and loneliness of life in the Australian bush has been another theme. For much of its history, Australia's bush music belonged to an oral and folkloric tradition, and was only later published in print in volumes such as Banjo Paterson's "Old Bush Songs", in the 1890s. Waltzing Matilda, often regarded as Australia's unofficial National anthem, is a quintessential early Australian country song, influenced more by Celtic folk ballads than by American Country and Western music. The lyrics were composed by the poet Banjo Paterson in 1895. This strain of Australian country music, with lyrics focusing
Tom Traubert's Blues Tom Traubert's Blues "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" (commonly known as "Tom Traubert's Blues" or as "Waltzing Matilda") is a song by American Alternative rock musician Tom Waits. It is the opening track on Waits' third studio album "Small Change", released in September 1976 on Asylum Records. Written by Waits and produced by Bones Howe, the song's chorus is derived from the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda" and its lyrics narrate alcohol abuse, inspired by Waits' own experiences in Los Angeles and Copenhagen. The song is considered one of Waits' signature songs and was described