"Oh, Mrs. McGrath," the sergeant said
"Would you like to make a soldier out of your son Ted
With a scarlett coat and a big cocked hat
Oh, Mrs. McGrath, wouldn't you like that?"

Chorus:
With your too-ri-a, fol-di-diddle-da, too-ri, oor-ri, oor-ri-a
With your too-ri-a, fol-di-diddle-da, too-ri, oor-ri, oor-ri-a

Now, Mrs. McGrath lived on the shore
For the space of seven long years or more
She spied a ship coming into the bay
With her son from far away"

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

Chorus

Up 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?"

Chorus

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

"Oh, Teddyboy," the widow cried
"Your two fine legs were your mothers pride
Stumps of a tree won't do at all
Why didn't you run from the big cannon ball?"

Chorus

"All foreign wars I do proclaim
Live on the blood and the mothers pain
I'd rather have my son as he used to be
Than the King of America and his whole navy"

Chorus