Barrack Room Ballads

Cells

   I've a head like a concertina:  I've a tongue like a button-stick:
   I've a mouth like an old potato, and I'm more than a little sick,
   But I've had my fun o' the Corp'ral's Guard:  I've made the cinders fly,
   And I'm here in the Clink for a thundering drink
             and blacking the Corporal's eye.
       With a second-hand overcoat under my head,
       And a beautiful view of the yard,
     O it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
       For “drunk and resisting the Guard!”
        Mad drunk and resisting the Guard—
       'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
     So it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
       For “drunk and resisting the Guard.”

   I started o' canteen porter, I finished o' canteen beer,
   But a dose o' gin that a mate slipped in, it was that that brought me here.
   'Twas that and an extry double Guard that rubbed my nose in the dirt;
   But I fell away with the Corp'ral's stock
             and the best of the Corp'ral's shirt.

   I left my cap in a public-house, my boots in the public road,
   And Lord knows where, and I don't care, my belt and my tunic goed;
   They'll stop my pay, they'll cut away the stripes I used to wear,
   But I left my mark on the Corp'ral's face, and I think he'll keep it there!

   My wife she cries on the barrack-gate, my kid in the barrack-yard,
   It ain't that I mind the Ord'ly room—it's that that cuts so hard.
   I'll take my oath before them both that I will sure abstain,
   But as soon as I'm in with a mate and gin, I know I'll do it again!
       With a second-hand overcoat under my head,
       And a beautiful view of the yard,
     Yes, it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
       For “drunk and resisting the Guard!”
        Mad drunk and resisting the Guard—
       'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
     So it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
       For “drunk and resisting the Guard.”