I was brought up in Yorkshire and when I was sixteen
I walked all the way to London and a soldier I became

cho:
With me fine cap and feathers, likewise me rattling [bad word] They learned 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 pranks that I saw upon the breech
And so boldly did I fight me boys although I'm but a wench
And they 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 [bad word] "It's a shame", he says "to lose a pretty [bad word] boy like you"
So now I must return to me mum and dad at home
And along with me [bad word] no longer can I roam