There’s many a shrewd countree, they say, but none so shrewd as I,
There’s Germany and England, there’s France and Italy,
But none so shrewd as Holy Russia, from Caucasus to Cork,
So I’m to be Cock o’ the Walk, brother, I’m to be Cock o’ the Walk.
You sleep so sound and safe, brother, I hope you’ll never wake,
As in the Eastern Empires my day begins to break,
But I must gather countries, peoples, over Asia stalk,
For I’m to be Cock o’ the Walk, brother, I’m to be Cock o’ the Walk
As I move to the southward, what think ye that I see,
But Herat, leading to the lands that must belong to me?