Complaint of Our Private Soldiers

Item

Complaint of Our Private Soldiers

Tune--" We are but little children weak "

WE are but little Seaforths weak,
Our pay is seven bob a week.
Whate'er we do by night or day,
It makes no difference to our pay.

Our hours a day are twenty-four,
We thank the Lord there are no more,
For if there were, we know that we
Would work another two or three.

There is one thing we do believe,
That we're entitled to some leave;
We know not why we are so cursed,
We'll get our old-age pensions first.

I am indebted for this lyric to the privates of No. 16 Platoon of my Battalion. I don't know how many survive of the composers, but I record my thanks to them here.

Title: Complaint of Our Private Soldiers
Identifier: greatwar_mackintosh030

Item sets: War, The Liberator and Other Pieces

Media: <html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">Complaint of Our Private Soldiers</h1><h1 align="" class="head"><em>Tune</em>--" We are but little children weak "</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">WE are but little Seaforths weak,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Our pay is seven bob a week.</p><p class="line">Whate'er we do by night or day,</p><p class="line">It makes no difference to our pay.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Our hours a day are twenty-four,</p><p class="line">We thank the Lord there are no more,</p><p class="line">For if there were, we know that we</p><p class="line">Would work another two or three.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There is one thing we do believe,</p><p class="line">That we're entitled to some leave;</p><p class="line">We know not why we are so cursed,</p><p class="line">We'll get our old-age pensions first.</p></div><p>I am indebted for this lyric to the privates of No. 16 Platoon of my Battalion. I don't know how many survive of the composers, but I record my thanks to them here. </p></body></html>