Another Banks of the Clyde; for your collection Joe - an amalgamation of this one and 'Soldier Cut Down in his Prime' recorded from Alf Wildman from Bedfordshire, by Fred Hamer; published in Garners Gay (EFDS Publications 1967)
Jim Carroll

ON THE BANKS OF THE CLYDE
Sung by Alf Wildman of Bedfordshire

On the banks of the Clyde stood a lad and a lassie,
The Lad's name was Geordie, the lass's was Sal,
She flung her arms round him and cried, Do not leave me,
For Geordie was going to fight for the Queen.

But some years later when I saw young Geordie,
Dark was the night and cold was the day,
He called for a flannel to bind his poor head with,
He was wrapped in a blanket and colder than clay.

So we'll beat the big drum and we'll play the fife merrily,
We'll play the Dead March as we carry him along,
We'll take him to the churchyard and fire three volleys o'er him,
For he's a bonny young soldier cut down in his prime.

His ag-ed mother, his white-haired old father,
Ofttimes had told him about his past life,
Never to go courting the flash girls of the city,
But in the flash girls of the city he took his delight.

And now on his tombstone you'll find these words written,
All you jolly fellows take warning from me,
And never go a-courting those flash girls of the city,
For the flash girls of the city were the ruin of me.

So we'll beat the big drum and we'll play the fife merrily,
We'll play the Dead March as we carry him along,
We'll take him to the churchyard and fire three volleys o'er him,
For he's a bonny young soldier cut down in his prime.

Sometimes known as The Young Sailor/Soldier Cut Down in His Prime or St. James' Hospital. Alf 's version is short, but it tells the whole story in a nutshell, and I have not heard his first verse anywhere else.