Q

Here's the words for Maurice Ogg's version from the BL recording.

Mick

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ONE OF THE OLD RESERVES

Spoken introduction:
Another song I heard a man singing in a pub. He sang several fun songs and this was one he sung me. But his name was John Leary and sung this song one day, stood at the bar, when we was all having a bit of a sing-song.

Oh, me old reserves came marching up and down the town,
They came up in their thousands in their scarlet uniform.
I wanted to be a soldier, I wanted to have the nerve.
The battle they got me in me boys was diddle-ee-ah-dee-dah.

Oh, one of the old reserves,
One of the old reserves.
Up at the corner you'll be sent
There's the place you pay no rent.
The Sergeant there he'll see you, he'll say "How do you do?"
Six pence a day is all of your pay
For being one of the old reserves.

They put me in the uniform, I was strolling along the green
When there I followed a dainty lass, she looked about sixteen.
She wore some dainty stockin's and a bit of a dainty frock,
But when I got up beside her she had a face that would stop a clock.

One of the old reserves,
One of the old reserves,
"Oh, handsome soldier boy", says she, "Hello", says I in me scarlet bold,
"I gather you want a partner", "Aye but he'd need (a) hell of a nerve",
Six pence a day's too much to pay
For one of the old reserves.

They put me in the dining hall and Mary says to me
"Oh, something's going to happen while they're giving me eggs for tea".
Now why she passed the sugar I really couldn't tell,
But when I got the top off the egg 'twas then I got the smell.

Oh, one of the old reserves,
One of the old reserves.
Up at the corner you'll be sent
There's the place you pay no rent.
The Sergeant there he'll see you, he'll say "How do you do?"
Six pence a day is all of your pay
For being one of the old reserves.


Source: Maurice Ogg (d.1980), Coleby, Lincs, UK. Collected by Roy Palmer, ca1979. from BL recording linked above.