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(Troops for Foreign Service)
MARCH! The mud is cakin’ good about our trousies. | |
| Front!—eyes front, an’ watch the Colour-casin’s drip. | |
| Front! The faces of the women in the ’ouses | |
| Ain’t the kind o’ things to take aboard the ship. | |
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| Cheer! An’ we’ll never march to victory. | 5 |
| Cheer! An’ we’ll never live to ’ear the cannon roar! | |
| The Large Birds o’ Prey | |
| They will carry us away, | |
| An’ you’ll never see your soldiers any more! | |
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| Wheel! Oh, keep your touch; we’re goin’ round a corner. | 10 |
| Time!—mark time, an’ let the men be’ind us close. | |
| Lord! The transport’s full, an’ ’alf our lot not on ’er— | |
| Cheer, O cheer! We’re going off where no one knows. | |
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| March! The Devil’s none so black as ’e is painted! | |
| Cheer! We’ll ’ave some fun before we’re put away. | 15 |
| ’Alt an’ ’and ’er out—a woman’s gone and fainted! | |
| Cheer! Get on!—Gawd ’elp the married men to-day! | |
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| Hoi! Come up, you ’ungry beggars, to yer sorrow. | |
| (’Ear them say they want their tea, an’ want it quick!) | |
| You won’t have no mind for slingers, 1 not to-morrow— | 20 |
| No; you’ll put the ’tween-decks stove out, bein’ sick! | |
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| ’Alt! The married kit ’as all to go before us! | |
| ’Course it’s blocked the bloomin’ gangway up again! | |
| Cheer, O cheer the ’Orse Guards watchin’ tender o’er us, | |
| Keepin’ us since eight this mornin’ in the rain! | 25 |
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| Stuck in ’eavy marchin’-order, sopped and wringin’— | |
| Sick, before our time to watch ’er ’eave an’ fall, | |
| ’Ere’s your ’appy ’ome at last, an’ stop your singin’. | |
| ’Alt! Fall in along the troop-deck! Silence all! | |
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| Cheer! For we’ll never live to see no bloomin’ victory! | 30 |
| Cheer! An’ we’ll never live to ’ear the cannon roar! | |
| (One cheer more!) | |
| The jackal an’ the kite | |
| ’Ave an ’ealthy appetite, | |
| An’ you’ll never see your soldiers any more! (’Ip! Urroar!) | 35 |
| The eagle an’ the crow | |
| They are waitin’ ever so, | |
| An’ you’ll never see your soldiers any more! (’Ip Urroar!) | |
| Yes, the Large Birds o’ Prey | |
| They will carry us away, | 40 |
| An’ you’ll never see your soldiers any more! | |
