Yes, the tune is basically the same in verse and chorus. It is a clearance song. The bit about taking the King's shilling " ... a red coat on my back and a shilling in my pocket" - the "British" (i.e. English) army wore red coats and the shilling was the sign-on fee. So the guy in the song went off to fight foreign wars on behalf of the government only to return to find that same government was turning his family off the land and burning his house. Ironic, ain't it?