And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Eric Bogle wrote it in two weeks in 1971, after seeing an Anzac Day march in Canberra. It follows a young Australian who loses his legs at Gallipoli. The Skids had covered it in 1981, and June Tabor recorded it for her 1976 debut album. The Pogues had already put a version on the B-side of their first single, Dark Streets of London, produced by Stan Brennan. The version that closes Rum Sodomy & the Lash runs 8:10.

Pitchfork called Bogle's song one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written. It said there may be more striking versions, naming Tabor's, but that MacGowan's "sozzled, stoic, rueful" depiction of the legless soldier feels vivid and true. The Guardian listed it with Dirty Old Town as the quintessential versions on the album.