The Sapper
When the waters were dried and the Earth did appear,
("It's all one", says the Sapper)
The Lord He created the Engineer,
Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
To dig for the guns of a bullock brigade
Which has asked for Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
When the flood comes along for an extra monsoon,
Twas Noah constructed the first pontoon,
To the plans of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
We work under escort in trousers and shirt,
An the heathen they plug us tail-up in the dirt,
Annoying Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
But after fatigue in the wet an the sun,
Old Noah got drunk, which he wouldn't ha done,
If he'd trained with Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
We blast out the rock an we shovel the mud,
We make em good roads an they roll down the Khud,
Reporting Her Majesty's Royal Engineers!
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
When the Tower o Babel had mixed up mens bat,
Some clever civilian was managing that,
An none of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
We make them their bridges, their wells an their huts,
An the telegraph wires the enemy cuts,
An it's blamed on Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
When the Jews had a fight at the foot of a hill,
Young Joshua ordered the sun to stand still,
For he was a Captain of Engineers,
Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
An when we return, an from war we would cease,
They grudge us adornin the billets of peace,
Which are kept for Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
When the children of Israel made bricks without straw,
They were learnin the regular work of our Corp,
The work of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
We build em nice barracks-they swear they are bad,
That our Colonels are methodist, married or mad,
Insultin Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
For ever since then, if war they would wage,
Behold us a-shinin on history's page-
First page for Her Majesty'sRoyal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
They have'nt no manners nor gratitude too,
For the more that we help em the less they will do,
But mock at Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
We lay down their sidings an help them entrain,
An we sweep up their mess through the bloomin campaign
In the style of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
Now the Line's but a man with a gun in his hand,
An Cavalry's only what horses can stand,
When helped by Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
They send us up front with a fuse an a mine,
To blow up the gates that are rushed by the Line,
But bent by Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
Artillery moves by the leave o the ground,
But we are the men that do something all round,
For we are Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper!
I have stated it plain an my arguments thus
(!It's all one", says the Sapper)
There's only one Corp which is perfect- that us:
An they call us Her Majesty's Engineers,
Her Majesty's Royal Enginers,
With the rank and the pay of a Sapper.
