Question 939

This song is Australia's most widely known bush ballad, a country folk song. The title of this song is Australian slang for traveling by foot with one's goods in a "X" (bag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or swagman, making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a sheep to eat. When the sheep's ostensible owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft (a crime punishable by hanging), the worker commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole, and then goes on to haunt the site.

The original lyrics were written in 1887 by poet Banjo Paterson. It was first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that the song has its own museum in Queensland.

Which song/X?

Answer: Waltzing Matilda