For the last three week’s I've been dodging, A girl I know who has a lodging, In Strand, in the Strand; The first thing that put my heart in a flutter Was a Balmoral boot as she crossed the gutter. In Strand, in the Strand:
I wish I was Nancy oh! Heigho, In a second floor for evermore To live and die with Nancy.
A pork pie hat with a little feather, A new knickerbocker for the dirty weather, In Strand, in the Strand; Some pretty petticoats too she’d got them, Trimm’d with embroidery round the bottom. In Strand, in the Strand;
One night as I was out for a run, I saw my Nancy buying a bun . In Strand, in the Strand; I told my love and down did fall, Slap on my knees by Exeter Hall, In the Strand, in the Strand.
I popp’d the question neat and nobby, When she said, “Get Up here comes a Bobby!" In Strand, in the Strand; But said she to me, “Don’t look so blue. For I’ll marry you in a week or two, In Strand, in the Strand;
I never shall forget the day When to Church we led the way In Strand, in the Strand; The folks did laugh and some did sing, I thought I’d done a tidy thing In Strand, in the Strand;
I married her off without any fuss Bought a cradle and got a nurse In Strand, in the Strand; I never repent me going out west, For all the wives you get the best In Strand, in the Strand.
A parody sung to the tune of a now more famous American song: Dixie. It was collected by Cecil Sharp from the singing of John Short in 1914, who sang it as a capstan shanty – a sailor’s work song used when turning the capstan.