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.