(Chorus)
Oh Colleen love, oh Colleen, the rout has now begun,
And I must go a marching, to the beating of a drum.
Come dress your self in your best, and come along with me,
And I’ll take you to the wars me love, in High Germany.
I’ll buy for you a horse, my love,
and on it you will ride,
And all of my delight will be in riding by your side.
We’ll stop at every ale-house, and drink when we are dry,
We’ll be true to one another and get married by and by.
(Chorus)
O’ cursed be those cruel wars,
that every did they rise,
And out of merry England, pass many a man likewise.
They took my true love from me, likewise my brothers three,
And sent them to the wars, my love, in High Germany.
(Chorus)
My friends I do not value, and
my foes I do not fear,
For now me true love’s left me, and wanders far and near.
But when my baby it is born, and smiling, on my knee,
I’ll think of handsome Willie, in High Germany.
(Chorus)