When I was a fair maid at the age of sweet sixteen,

From my parents I did run away a soldier to become;

I enlisted in the army a soldier for to be,

And they learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dee.

 

Chorus :

With my nice cap and feathers, if you could have only seen,

You'd have sworn that in your very heart a young man I had been;

With my gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small,

I could rattle up the rub-a-dub-a-dee the best among them all.

 

Oh, many is the prank that I played upon the field,

And many was the young man his love to me revealed;

Many a prank have I seen among the French,

And so boldly as I fought, tho' only a wench.

 

With my regiment at the front all my time I might have been,

With the brave Duke of York at the siege of Valenciennes;

But was favoured by my officer for fear I should be slain,

I was sent home to England for recruiting back again.

 

Many a night in the guard-room I have lain,

I never was afraid to lie down with the men;

At the pulling of my breeches I oft-times gave a smile,

To think I lay with a regiment, and a maiden all the while.

 

That might never have been known until this very hour,

But they sent me up to London to keep sentry o'er the Tower;

A lady fell in love with me; I told her I was a maid;

She went to my officer, and the secret she betrayed.

 

My officer sent for me to see if that was true;

I told him that it was - what other could I do?

I told him it was, and he smiled to me and said -

"It's a pity for to lose such a drummer as you've made."

 

"But for your gallent conduct at the siege of Valenciennes,

A bounty shall you get my girl, a bounty from the King."

But should the war arise again, and the King in want of men,

I'll put on my regimentals and I'll fight for him again.