Tune--"_Soldier laddie._"
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once was a maid, tho' I cannot tell when,And still my delight is in proper young men;Some one of a troop of dragoons was my daddie,No wonder I'm fond of a sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c. The first of my loves was a swaggering blade,To rattle the thundering drum was his trade;His leg was so tight, and his cheek was so ruddy,Transported I was with my sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c. But the godly old chaplain left him in the lurch,The sword I forsook for the sake of the church;He ventur'd the soul, and I risk'd the body,'Twas then I prov'd false to my sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c. Full soon I grew sick of my sanctified sot,The regiment at large for a husband I got;From the gilded spontoon to the fife I was ready,I asked no more but a sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c. But the peace it reduc'd me to beg in despair,Till I met my old boy in a Cunningham fair;His rags regimental they flutter'd so gaudy,My heart is rejoic'd at my sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c. And now I have liv'd--I know not how long,And still I can join in a cup or a song;But whilst with both hands I can hold the glass steady,Here's to thee, my hero, my sodger laddie.Sing, Lal de dal, &c.
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