The Eighteenth Of June

All you people who live at home easy
And are far from the trials of war
Never knowing the danger of battle
But are safe with your families secure

Know you, the long scythe of destruction
Has been sweeping the nations all around
But it never yet cut with the keenness
That it did on the eighteenth of June

It began about five in the morning
And it lasted 'til seven at night
All the people stood 'round in amazement
They had never yet seen such a sight

And the thunder of five hundred cannons
Proclaimed that the battle was on
And the moon in the sky overshone all
Recording the eighteenth of June

And what a sad heart had poor Boney
To take up instead of a crown
And to canter from Brussels to Paris
Lamenting the eighteenth of June

All you young girls with sweethearts out yonder
That go daily to buy the black gown
'Tis one thousand to one I will lay you
Your love fell on the eighteenth of June

Sixty thousand stout-hearted brave soldiers
Who died made an awful bold tune
And it's many's the girl will remember
With sorrow the eighteenth of June

And what a sad heart had poor Boney
To take up instead of a crown
And it's many's the girl will remember
With sorrow the eighteenth of June