' soldier, soldier, will you marry me, with your musket, fife and drum
' soldier, soldier, will you marry me, with your musket, fife and drum?'
 
chorus 1 'oh, how can I marry such a pretty little maid (girl), when I have no jacket to put on?
chorus 2
so she bought him a pair, the finest he could wear;
 'now soldier, put it on.'
 
verse stays the same, item of clothing changes each chorus:
pants, shoes, socks, pants, hat etc
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like sam hall, old king cole, dinki-di, 'army hq',
this is a song most soldiers would have heard, if not sung, and dates from at least the time of the american revolution.
 I have heard another version of this song, also within the military, but since that wasn't the version I sang, I haveno memory of it.
 this is the version that most veterans, soldiers I have talked to sang.
 in chasing up the heritage/other versions of this song, folksinger/organiser of sydney, len neary says he has heard tommy makem sing a version, but he couldn't remember any of it, or what he had to say about the origens of his version.
 I will do an up-grade of these notes,
or incorporate as a second song when I chase it down.
 I think it is quite possible that this song started life as a 'cautionary tale' for young women about the undesirability of having a soldier as a husband.
 it has been requisitioned by soldiery over 200 years ago, no doubt because, contrary to the soldiers reality of life then, as now, more resembled '7 beers with the wrong woman'.
!! the values expressed in this song, 'grab what you can, when you can',
'I'm right jack!' 'get ahead at any cost' 'get to the top over the' bodies' of your workmates' are what happens in our society in the workplace;
 it has no place in military service------ just had a yarn with ethno-musicologist peter parkhill of sydney who says there 'are hundreds of different extent versions, from many english speaking countries, with almost as many tunes.
 one version, he says was top of the popular music charts in the 50' s--that I have no memory of it just goes to show how long i've been out of the musical mainstream!