Am7      D6/A            G  D/F#  Em                    Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
 Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer can we stay.
  Am7      D6/A            G  D/F#  Em               C       D      Em
The bugle-horns are sounding clear, and                we must march away.
   Am7      D6/A            G  D/F#  Em               C       D      Em
We're ordered down to Portsmouth, and it's              many the weary mile.
   Am7      D6/A            G  D/F#  Em          Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
To join the British Army on the               banks     of  the  Nile.

[Verse]

Am7      D6/A   G  D/F#  Em        Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
Oh Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn,
 Am7      D6/A          G  D/F#  Em       C   D      Em
Don't make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born.
 Am7      D6/A            G  D/F#  Em       C       D      Em
For the parting of our love would be like parting with my life.
   Am7      D6/A     G  D/F#  Em       Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be your wife.

[Verse]

Am7      D6/A  G  D/F#  Em       Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
Oh my Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure that will never do.
 Am7      D6/A          G  D/F#  Em       C   D      Em
The government has ordered, and we are bound to go.
 Am7      D6/A          G  D/F#  Em       C   D      Em
The government has ordered, and the Queen she gives command.
   Am7      D6/A    G  D/F#  Em       Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
And I am bound on oath, my love, to serve in a foreign land.

[Verse]

Am7      D6/A        G  D/F#  Em              Am7   D6/A      Am7    D6/A
Oh, but I'll cut off my yellow hair, and I'll go along with you.
 Am7      D6/A   G  D/F#  Em       C       D      Em
I'll dress myself in uniform, and I'll see Egypt too.
 Am7      D6/A     G  D/F#  Em       C        D      Em
I'll march beneath your banner while fortune it do smile,
   Am7      D6/A  G  D/F#  Em        Am7   D6/A    Am7    D6/A
And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile.

[Verse]

Am7      D6/A        G  D/F#  Em              Am7   D6/A        Am7    D6/A
But your waist it is too slender, and your fingers they are too small.
 Am7      D6/A     G  D/F# Em       C     D         Em
In the sultry suns of Egypt your rosy cheeks would spoil.
 Am7      D6/A      G  D/F#  Em             C       D      Em
Where the cannons they do rattle, when the bullets they do fly,
Am7      D6/A           G  D/F#  Em      Am7   D6/A        Am7    D6/A
And the silver trumpets sound so loud to hide the dismal cries.

[Verse]

Am7      D6/A     G  D/F#  Em        Am7   D6/A  Am7    D6/A
Oh, cursed be those cruel wars, that ever they began,
Am7      D6/A         G  D/F# Em       C     D         Em
For they have robbed our country of many the handsome men.
Am7      D6/A            G  D/F# Em               C          D         Em
They've robbed us of our sweethearts while their bodies they feed the lions,
Am7      D6/A     G  D/F#  Em              Am7   D6/A   Am7    D6/A
On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks of the Nile.