Mcalpine’s fuseliers

G	G	G	C	C	G	C	G
G	G	C D	C	C	G	C	C
G	G	C D	C	C	G	C	C
G	G	C	C	G	D	G	G

.          G                                   C
1. As down the glen came McAlpine's men,
.                   G          D          G
with their shovels slung behind them.
.                                            C
It was in the pub that they drank their sub,
.                        G               C
and up in the spike you'll find them.
.             G                                  C
They sweated blood and they washed down mud,
.                        G             C
with pints and quarts of beer.
.        G                         C
But now we're on the road again, 
.              G           D    G
with McAlpine's Fusiliers.
 
.        G                                    C
2. I stripped to the skin with Darky Finn,
.        G                      D          G
way down upon the Isle of Grain.
.                                                     C
With a Horse-face Toole, then I knew the rule,
.                            G          C
no money if you stop for rain.
.         G                            C
For McAlpine's God is a well-filled hod,
.                                          G             C
with your shoulders cut to bits and seared.
.         G                      C
And woe to he who looks for tea, 
.         G               D    G
with McAlpine's Fusiliers.
 
.            G                                    C
3. I remember the day that the Bear O'Shea,
.    G          D             G
fell into a concrete stairs.
.                                                   C
What Horse-face said, when he saw him dead,
.                                   G              C
well it wasn't what the rich call prayers.
 
.          G                              C
I'm a navvy short, was the one retort,
.                        G         C
that reached unto my ears.
.                  G                                    C
When the going is rough, well you must be tough,
.             G            D    G
With McAlpine's Fusiliers.
 
.            G                                       C
4. I've worked till the sweat near had me beat,
.         G               D             G
with Russian, Czech and Pole.
.                                              C
As shuttering jams up in the hydro dams,
.                                  G                C
or underneath the Themse in a hole.
.    G                                    C
I grabbed them hard and I got niggard,
.                                 G                  C
and many a ganger sits upon me ears.
.           G                             C
If you pride your life, don't join by Christ,
.            G            D    G
with McAlpine's Fusiliers.