"Oh Mrs McGrath," the sergeant said.
"Do you want to make a soldier out of your son Ted?
With a scarlet coat and a big cocked hat.
Mrs. McGrath wouldn't you like that?"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
So Mrs. McGrath lived on the seashore.
With a space of seven long years or more.
She saw a ship sailing in the bay.
Saying, "That's my son Ted! Can you clear the way?"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"Oh Captain dear, where have you been?
Have you been sailing on the Medeterannean.
Have you any news of my son Ted?
Is the poor boy living or is he dead?"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
Then, in came Ted without any legs.
And in their place were two wooden pegs.
She kissed him a dozen times or two.
Saying, "Holy Moses! It isn't you!"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"Were you drunk or were you blind
When you left your two fine legs behind?
Or was it walking on the sea,
That a mermaid took your legs away?"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"I wasn't drunk. I wasn't blind,
When I left my two fine legs behind.
A cannonball on the fifth of May,
Took my two fine legs from my knees away."
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"Teddy boy," the widow cried.
"Your two fine legs were your mother's pride.
The stumps of a tree won't do at all.
Why didn't you run from the big cannonball?"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"All foreign wars, I do proclaim.
Between Don John and the King of Spain.
By the Heavens I'll make them rue the time.
They took the legs from a child of mine!"
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
"If I had you back again.
I'll never let you go to fight the King of Spain.
I rather have my son as he used to be.
Than the King of America and his old navy."
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.
Hush little Lily, don't you cry.
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby.