The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (original soundtrack) The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (original soundtrack) All poetry narrated in the musical was written by Banjo Paterson, including ""Waltzing Matilda"" (for which the music was written by M. Cowan). Bruce Rowland, who composed the instrumental music for both the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River film and its sequel 1988 film The Man from Snowy River II (American title: "Return to Snowy River"), composed special arrangements of some of his music for the musical. Rowland was the musical arranger who also conducted the orchestra for the musical. Lee Kernaghan and Garth Porter wrote the music and
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda at all; they thought it was anti-soldier, but they've come full circle now and they see it's certainly anti-war but not anti-soldier." Written in 1971, the coincidence with the Vietnam War has not been missed as it rails against the romanticising of war. As the old man sits on his porch, watching the veterans march past every Anzac Day, he muses, "The young people ask what are they marching for, and I ask myself the same question". The song was originally eight verses long but Bogle pared it down to five verses. In 1974 Bogle, entered the National Folk Festival