I was brought up in Yorkshire and when I was sixteen I ran away to London and a soldier I became
Chorus: With me fine cap and feathers, likewise me rattling drum They learn-ed me to play upon the ra-ba-da-ba-dum With me gentle waist so slender, me fingers long and small I could play upon the ra-ba-dum the best of them all
And so many were the ranks that I saw among the French And so boldly did I fight me boys although I'm but a wench And I buttoned then up me trousers so up to them I smiled To think I'd live with a thousand men and a maiden all the while
And they never found my secret out until this very hour When they sent me out to London to be sentry at the Tower When a young girl fell in love with me and she found that I's a maid She went out to me officer me secret she betrayed
He unbuttoned then my red uniform and he found that it was true "It's a shame", he says "to lose a pretty drummer boy like you" So now I must return to me mum and dad at home And along with me old comrades no longer can I roam