"Mrs. McGrath," the sergeant said
"Would you like a soldier of your son, Ted?
With a scarlet cloak and a big cocked hat
Mrs. McGrath, would you like that?"

With your too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With your too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa

Now Mrs. McGrath lived on the shore
And after seven years or more
She spied a ship come into the bay
With her son from far away

"Oh, Captain dear, where have you been?
You been sailing the Mediterranean?
Have you news of my son Ted?
Is he living, or is he dead?"

With your too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With your too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa

Then came Ted without any legs
And in their place two wooden pegs
She kissed him a dozen times or two
And said, "My God, Ted, is it you?"
"Now were you drunk, or were you blind
When you left your two fine legs behind?
Or was it walking upon the sea
That wore your two fine legs away?"

With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
Wwith a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa

"No, I wasn't drunk, and I wasn't blind
When I left my two fine legs behind
A cannonball on the fifth of May
Tore my two fine legs away"

"Ah, Teddy, boy," the widow cried
"Your two fine legs were your mother's pride
Them stumps of a tree won't do at all
Why didn't you run from the cannonball?"

With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa

[Instrumental break]
"All foreign wars, I do proclaim
Live on blood and a mother's pain
I'd rather have my son as he used to be
Than the King of America and his whole Navy"

With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-di-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa
With a too-ri-aa, fol-did-dle-aa, too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa