Banks Of The Nile

Oh hark, the drums do beat, my love, no longer can we stay

The bugle-horns are sounding clear and we must march away

We're ordered down to Portsmouth and it's many is the weary mile

To join the British Army on the banks of the Nile

Oh Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn

Don't make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born

For the parting of our love would be like parting with my life

So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be your wife

Oh my Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure that will never do

The government has ordered, and we are bound to go

The government has ordered, and the Queen she gives command

And I am bound on oath, my love, to serve in a foreign land

Oh, but I'll cut off my yellow hair, and I'll go along with you

I'll dress myself in uniform and I'll see Egypt too

I'll march beneath your banner while fortune it do smile

And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile

But your waist it is too slender, and your fingers they are too small

In the sultry suns of Egypt, your rosy cheeks would spoil

Where the cannons they do rattle, when the bullets they do fly

And the silver trumpets sound, so loud to hide the dismal cries

Oh, cursed be those cruel wars, that ever they began

For they have robbed our country of many's the handsome men

They've robbed us of our sweethearts while their bodies they feed the lions

On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks of the Nile