My Martin,

I know the song from the band "Fotheringay" (Sandy Denny) and I wanted to compare it with the Mudcat DB. Something else keeps popping up --strange, cause I know for sure it was in the DB as a Scottish song! -- so I'll give you my version (that is, the version I always do. It is a mix: Fotheringay and De Dannann. (Forgive me for the mistakes: I learned the song by ear - pretty hard for a Dutch guy whose native tongue is not English.)
among others recorded by Ewan MacColl and Sidney Richards
(Folksongs of Britain, vol. 8)

BANKS OF THE NILE
(from Fotheringay)

Oh, hard the drums do beat, my love; no longer can we stay.
The bugle horns are sounding clear, and we must march away.
We are ordered down to Portsmouth, and it's many a weary mile
To join the British army, on the banks of the Nile.

Oh Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn.
Don't make me curse and ruin the day, that ever I was born;
For the parting of a love would be like parting with my life,
So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be your wife.

Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure that will never do.
The government has ordered, and we are bound to go.
The government has ordered, and the queen she gives the men,
And I am bound o'north, my love, to serve in a foreign land.

Oh, but I'll cut off my long hair, and I'll go along with you.
I'll dress myself in uniform, and I'll see Egypt, too.
I'll march beneath the banner. With fortune it will smile,
And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile.

What a waste it is, that you're slender, and you figure it's too small,
And the salty suns of Egypt, your rosy cheeks would spoil.
With the cannons they do rattle, and the bullets they do fly,
And the silver trumpets sound to loud, to hide the dismal cries.

Oh, curse upon those cruel wars, and the hour that it began,
For they've robbed the poor old Ireland from many a handsome man.
They have robbed us from our sweethearts, protectors of the soil,
And the dry and sandy desserts, which are the banks of the Nile.
(And the blood does steep the grass that's deep, on the banks of the Nile.)

Greetings

Rob