The Hungry Army

When I was young and in me prime
I thought I’d go and join the line,
And as a soldier cut a shine,
In a lot called the hungry army.

Sound the bugle, blow the horn.
Fight for glory, night and morn.
Hungry soldiers, ragged and torn,
Just returned from the army.

Said the sergeant, "You are just the chap",
And placed a knapsack on my back.
Then sent me off to Ballarat,
To fight in the hungry army.

Chorus

Now I went out to drill one day,
The wind was rather strong that way;
In fact it blew the lot away,
This glorious hungry army.

Chorus

I've got a medal as you see,
The workhouse presented it to me,
For hanging fast to a rotten tree,
When the wind took the hungry army.

Chorus

They cut me hair with a knife and fork,
And curled it with a cabbage stalk;
They fed me up on cabbage broth,
To fight in the hungry army.

Chorus

They served it out in a large tin can,
A teaspoonful to every man;
I got so fat I could not stand,
To fight in the hungry army.

Chorus

They sent me out to drill recruits,
But they kicked me with their hob-nailed boots;
Oh, take, oh, take away these brutes'
Of this glorious hungry army.

Chorus

So now, kind friends, I must be off.
I think I smell the mutton broth.
Here comes General Howl and Scoff,
The head of the hungry army.

Chorus

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