When I grow up a soldier man, I'll buy a pole to wag,
With silver top and tassels red and blue;
I'll tell my little brother to be carrying the flag,
While I call out and tell him how to do.
I don't know where my father is, I've left him in a shop,
And if I'm lost there's bound to be a noise;
If fathers want their children, they should make the policeman stop
The music of the bands that steal the boys.
Oh, tiddley—om—ti—pomp they go! Stamp, soldier, stamp!
A captain with a silver sword is marching them to camp.
Ta—rah—ra—rah, the trumpets go, telling the boys to come,
And always and all the time, bang goes the drum.
WHISPER!
Hush, you, hush! I heard a patter
On the 'randah, in the wet!
Now 'n again, we've heard him chatter,
But we've never seen him yet.
INVALID
Raid, raid, go away,
Dote cub back udtil I say,
That wote be for beddy a day.
Ad wot's the good of sudlight, dow?
When I ab kept id bed,
Ad rubbed ad poultised for to cure
The cold that's id be head?