I was brought up in Yorkshire and when I was sixteen Oh I ran away to London and a soldier I became With me fine cap and feather, likewise me rattling drum They learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dum With me gentle waist so slender, me fingers long and small I could play upon the rub-a-dub the best of them all And so many were the pranks that I saw among the french And so boldly did I fight me boys although I'm but a wench And in buttoning up me trousers so often have I smiled To think I lay with a thousand men and a maiden all the while And they never found my secret out until this very hour When they sent me off to London to keep sentry o'er the Tower When a young girl fell in love with me and she found that I was a maid She went up to me officer me secret she betrayed He unbuttoned then my red tunic and he found that it was true 'It's a shame[, he says, 'to lose a pretty drummer boy like you] So now I must return to me mum and dad at home And along with me bold comrades it's no longer can I roam