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(The Royal Regiment of Marines)
AS I was spittin’ into the Ditch aboard o’ the Crocodile, | |
| I seed a man on a man-o’-war got up in the Reg’lars’ style. | |
| ’E was scrapin’ the paint from off of ’er plates, an’ I sez to ’im, “’Oo are you?” | |
| Sez ’e, “I’m a Jolly—’Er Majesty’s Jolly—soldier an’ sailor too!” | |
| Now ’is work begins by Gawd knows when, and ’is work is never through; | 5 |
| ’E isn’t one o’ the reg’lar Line, nor ’e isn’t one of the crew. | |
| ’E’s a kind of a giddy harumfrodite—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
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| An’, after, I met ’im all over the world, a-doin’ all kinds of things, | |
| Like landin’ ’isself with a Gatlin’ gun to talk to them ’eathen kings; | |
| ’E sleeps in an ’ammick instead of a cot, an’ ’e drills with the deck on a slew, | 10 |
| An’ ’e sweats like a Jolly—’Er Majesty’s Jolly—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
| For there isn’t a job on the top o’ the earth the beggar don’t know, nor do— | |
| You can leave ’im at night on a bald man’s ’ead, to paddle ’is own canoe— | |
| ’E’s a sort of a bloomin’ cosmopolouse—soldier an’ sailor too. | |
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| We’ve fought ’em in trooper, we’ve fought ’em in dock, and drunk with ’em in betweens, | 15 |
| When they called us the seasick scull’ry-maids, an’ we called ’em the Ass-Marines; | |
| But, when we was down for a double fatigue, from Woolwich to Bernardmyo, | |
| We sent for the Jollies—’Er Majesty’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
| They think for ’emselves, an’ they steal for ’emselves, and they never ask what’s to do, | |
| But they’re camped an’ fed an’ they’re up an’ fed before our bugle’s blew. | 20 |
| Ho! they ain’t no limpin’ procrastitutes—soldier an’ sailor too. | |
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| You may say we are fond of an ’arness-cut, or ’ootin’ in barrick-yards, | |
| Or startin’ a Board School mutiny along o’ the Onion Guards; | |
| But once in a while we can finish in style for the ends of the earth to view, | |
| The same as the Jollies—’Er Majesty’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! | 25 |
| They come of our lot, they was brothers to us; they was beggars we’d met an’ knew; | |
| Yes, barrin’ an inch in the chest an’ the arm, they was doubles o’ me an’ you; | |
| For they weren’t no special chrysanthemums—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
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| To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about, | |
| Is nothing so bad when you’ve cover to ’and, an’ leave an’ likin’ to shout; | 30 |
| But to stand an’ be still to the Birken’ead drill is a damn’ tough bullet to chew, | |
| An’ they done it, the Jollies—’Er Majesty’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
| Their work was done when it ’adn’t begun; they was younger nor me an’ you; | |
| Their choice it was plain between drownin’ in ’eaps an’ bein’ mopped by the screw, | |
| So they stood an’ was still to the Birken’ead drill, soldier an’ sailor too! | 35 |
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| We’re most of us liars, we’re ’arf of us thieves, an’ the rest are as rank as can be, | |
| But once in a while we can finish in style (which I ’ope it won’t ’appen to me). | |
| But it makes you think better o’ you an’ your friends, an’ the work you may ’ave to do, | |
| When you think o’ the sinkin’ Victorier’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
| Now there isn’t no room for to say ye don’t know—they ’ave proved it plain and true— | 40 |
| That, whether it’s Widow, or whether it’s ship, Victorier’s work is to do, | |
| An’ they done it, the Jollies—’Er Majesty’s Jollies—soldier an’ sailor too! | |
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