THE TARPAULIN JACKET
(G.J. Whyte-Melville / Charles Coote)
(19th Century English)


A tall stalwart lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed did lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say:

CHORUS:
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a poor buffer lies low;
And six six stalwart lancers shall carry me
With steps solemn, mournful and slow

Had I the wings of a little dove,
Far away I would fly, I'd fly
Start for the arms of my true lover
And there I would lay me and die.

Then get you two little white tombstones
Put them at my head and my toe, my toe,
And get you a penknife and scratch there:
'Here lies a poor buffer below'.

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And set them all out in a row, a row,
And get you six jolly good fellows
To drink to this buffer below.

And then in the calm of the twilight
When the soft winds are whispering low, so low,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below.