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Title
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Banks of the Nile
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Singer
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Wise, William
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Song Lyrics
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Verse 1
Hark! I hear the drums a-beating,
Here no longer I can stay,
I hear the trumpet sounding,
Love, now we must away;
I'm ordered off to Portsmouth,
It's many a long mile,
For to join the British Army,
On the Banks of the Nile.
Verse 2
O Willie, dearest Willie,
Don't leave me hear to mourn,
Twill make me curse and rue the day,
That ever I was born;
With the parting of my own true love,
And the parting of his life,
If you'll stay at home dear William,
Then I will be your wife.
Verse 3
If not, I'll cut off my curly locks,
And I'll go along with you,
I'll dress myself in velveteen,
I'll go and see Egypt too;
I'll fight beneath your banner,
While fortune seems to smile,
On the cold, sandy desert,
On the Banks of the Nile.
Verse 4
O Nancy, dearest Nancy,
You must not go with me,
Our Colonel gave us orders,
That no women there must be;
We must forsake our sweethearts,
Likewise our native soil,
And we'll comfort one another,
On the Banks of the Nile.
Verse 5
It made curse and rue the day,
When the war it first began,
For old Ireland has been robbed,
Of many a clever young man;
But now the war is over,
We're all a-going home,
Unto our wives and sweethearts,
We left behind to mourn.
