The Recruiting Sergeant

As I was walkin' down the street, Feelin' nice and larky-oh
A recruiting sergeant said to me, You’d look nice in khaki-oh, The King he is
in need of men, Just read the proclamation-oh
A life in Flanders for you
Then would be a nice vacation-oh, That maybe true sais I to him
But tell me sergeant deary-oh
If I had a pack struck on me back
Would I look nice and cheery-oh
For you’d make me drill and train all night
By sleepin on four benches-oh
It may be warm in Flanders
But it is draughty in the trenches-oh The sergeant twirled his little cane
His smile was so provokin' oh
He twiddled and twirled his wee moustache
He said I hope you’re jokin' oh, For the sandbags are so nice and high
The wind you won’t feel blowin’I waved to a colleen passin' by
I said what if it’s snowing-oh Come rain or hail nor wind or snow
Well I’m not goin' to Flanders oh
There’s work for me in Dublin
Let your sergeants and commanders go, Let englishmen for England fight
It’s nearly time they started oh, I waved the sergeant a nice goodbye
And there and then we parted oh
I waved the sergeant a nice goodbye
And there and then we parted oh