The Banks of the Nile

Hark, hark! the drums do beat, my love, and I must haste away

The bugles sweetly sound, and no longer can I stay

We are called up to Portsmouth, and it's many a weary mile

All for to be embarked for the banks of the Nile

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

Don't leave me here to curse the day that ever I was born

For parting with me, Willie, is like parting with me life

Oh, stay at home, dear Willie, and make me a lawful wife

I'll put on me velveteens and go along with you

I'll volunteer me services and go to Egypt too

I'll fight beneath your banner, love, and fortune it may smile

And I'll be your loyal comrade on the banks of the Nile

Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, oh, that would never do!

The government has ordered no women there to go

The government has ordered, the King he doth command

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

Your waist is rather slender, your complexion is too fine

Your constitution is too weak to stand a hot campaign

The sultry suns of Egypt your precious health would spoil

And the sandy desert places on the banks of the Nile

Oh, cursed, cursed be the day that e'er the wars began!

For they've ta'en oot o' Scotland mony a bonnie man

They've ta'en frae us our lifeguards, protectors o' our isle

And their bodies feed the worms on the banks of the Nile