"Oh, Mrs. McGrath," the sergeant said

"Would you like to make a soldier out of your son Ted

With a scarlett coat and a big cocked hat

Oh, Mrs. McGrath, wouldn't you like that?"



Chorus:

With your too-ri-a, fol-di-diddle-da, too-ri, oor-ri, oor-ri-a

With your too-ri-a, fol-di-diddle-da, too-ri, oor-ri, oor-ri-a



Now, Mrs. McGrath lived on the shore

For the space of seven long years or more

She spied a ship coming into the bay

With her son from far away"



"Oh captain dear, where have you been

You?ve been sailing the Mediterranean

Have you news of my son Ted

Is he living or is he dead?"



Chorus



Up came Ted without any legs

And in their place, two wooden pegs,

She kissed him a dozen times or two

And said "My god, Ted is it you"



"Now were you drunk or were you blind

When you left your two fine legs behind

Or was it walking upon the sea

That wore your two fine legs away?"



Chorus



"No, I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind

When I left my two fine legs behind

A big cannon ball on the fifth of May

Tore my two fine legs away"



"Oh, Teddyboy," the widow cried

"Your two fine legs were your mothers pride

Stumps of a tree won't do at all

Why didn't you run from the big cannon ball?"



Chorus



"All foreign wars I do proclaim

live on the blood and the mothers pain

I'd rather have my son as he used to be

Than the King of America and his whole navy"



Chorus