And I hear the cannons rattle, sure, my boys we must be ‘way,
I hear the trumpets sound and sure; we can no longer stay;
We’re ordered out to Portsmouth for many the long mile,
To cut down those blacks and Negroes on the banks of the Nile.

“Now then, Johnny, lovely Johnny, now from me you will not go;
The parting of you Johnny's the cause of all my woe.
The parting of you Johnny's the parting of my life,
So stay at home dear Johnny now and I shall be your wife.”

“Now then, Nancy, lovely Nancy, now, such things would never do;
Our colonel, he gave orders, no women there must go,
We must forsake our own sweethearts, likewise our native isle,
And go once more to battle to the banks of the Nile.”

“And I’ll cut off my yellow locks and a soldier’s suit put on,
Just like a gallant soldier brave, those roads I’ll march along,
I’ll fight and fold your banner while fortunes cease to smile,
And we’ll go once more to battle to the banks of the Nile.”

“Now your fingers, they’re too slender and your waist it is too small,
I fear you would not answer soon when on you they may call,
Your delicate constitution would not bear that unwholesome clime,
And the hot and sandy deserts round the banks of the Nile.”

“Then my curse may attend the war, and the hour it first began,
For many the young Irish lad from Ireland now is gone,
They are taken from their own sweethearts, likewise their native isle,
And their bodies has fed those wild birds on the banks of the Nile.”

Sure, now the war is over and home they can return,
Back to their friends and to those they left to mourn,
They shall roll them in their arms and still, through length of time,
And go no more to battle to the banks of the Nile.