Troopin'

Troopin', troopin', troopin' to the sea
Ere September come again, the six year men are free
We'll leave the dead behind us for they cannot come our way
To where the ship's a-calling up that takes us home today

We're going home, we're going home, our ship is at the shore
And you must pack your haversack, for we won't come back no more
Oh, don't you grieve for me, my lovely Mary Ann
For I'll marry you yet on a fourpenny bit as a time-expired man

They'll turn us out at Portsmouth wharf in cold and wet and rain
All wearing Indian cotton kit but we will not complain
They'll kill us of pneumonia for that's their little way
But damn the chills and fever, men, we're going home today

We're going home, we're going home, our ship is at the shore
And you must pack your haversack, for we won't come back no more
Oh, don't you grieve for me, my lovely Mary Ann
For I'll marry you yet on a fourpenny bit as a time-expired man

Troopin', troopin', give another cheer
Here's to English women and a quart of English beer
The colonel and the regiment and all who've got to stay
God's mercy strike 'em gentle, whoop! We're going home today

We're going home, we're going home, our ship is at the shore
And you must pack your haversack, for we won't come back no more
Oh, don't you grieve for me, my lovely Mary Ann
For I'll marry you yet on a fourpenny bit as a time-expired man