Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a young buffer lies low
I know that I won't get to heaven
But I don't want to go below

A handsome young airman lay dying
And as on the airdrome he lay
mechanics around him came sighing
These last dying words he did say

"Take the cylinders out of my kidneys
Take the connecting rods out of my brain
Take the crank shaft out of my backbone
And assemble the engine again"

Handsome Young Airman....Carl Sandburg's American Songbag

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Here's my transcription from Sandburg, which is slightly different. -Joe Offer-

WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET
and
THE HANDSOME YOUNG AIRMAN

A
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket,
And say a poor buffer lies low, lies low;
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me
With steps mournful, solemn, and slow.
I know I shan't get to Heaven,
And I don't want to go below-ow-ow —
Oh, ain't there some place in between them
Where this poor buffer can go?

B
A handsome young airman lay dying,
And as on the airdrome he lay,
To mechanics who 'round him came sighing
These last parting words he did say:
"Take the cylinders out of my kidneys,
The connecting rods out of my brain,
The crank-shaft out of my backbone,
And assemble the engine again"

Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927), page 437

NOTES: One of several in the R.W. Gordon Collection, this version (A) is from Frank Haworth of the British Club, Havana, Cuba; while (B) is from Abbe Niles who comments on how landlubber songs often are in active duty on the high seas and vice versa. "Any living tune is a jack of all trades. This version of Tarpaulin Jacket ten years ago on the flying fields was current among men who had never heard the original."