The Drummer Girl
When I was a young girl my ago it was sixteen,
I strayed from my parents and I went to serve the Queen;
I listed in the army like another private one,
So very soon they learned me was to beat all on the drum. As sung by Lemmy Brazil, Gloucester 5 January 1967 and 29 September 1967 (Springthyme 67.1.38 & 67.6.36). Sung in a fairly disordered fashion and put together by discussion. In: Shepheard, Peter. Folk Songs and Ballads of the Brazil Family of Gloucester (1967).
When I was a young girl my ago it was sixteen,
I strayed from my parents and I went to serve the Queen;
I listed in the army like another private one,
So very soon they learned me was to beat all on the drum.
To beat upon the drum, to beat upon the drum,So very soon they learned me was to beat upon the drum.I might have been a soldier in the uniform so grand,
To stand all in the uniform with a broadsword in my hand;
To stand all in me uniform with a broadsword in my hand,
To hear the great guns rattle and the music sound so grand.
At night from the barrack room I was going up to bed,
A-laying by a soldier’s side I never feeled afraid;
A-pulling off my overcoat, oft times it makes me smile,
To think myself a soldier I was a maiden all the while.
One night from the barrack room I was going to guard the tower,
I might have been a soldiering the very day and hour;
To a young girl fell in love with me an I told her I was a maid,
She wrote and told my officer my seceret by trade. [or betrayed
My officer he wrote to me to know if that was true,
With a great gun on my shoulder as I marched the barracks through
As I steppèd in the parlour and he smiled to me and sayed
“What a pity we should lose, you such a soldier you have made.”
She said, “Goodbye to you officer, you’ve been very kind to me,
Likewise my corporals, I hope we’ll meet again;
But if the war should be in the want, in the wantin of many more men,
I’ll put on my hat and feather and I’ll beat the drum again.”
“I’ll beat the drum again, I’ll beat the drum againI’ll put on my hat and feather and I’ll beat the drum again.”[ BACK ]
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