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The Soldiers Return From the Wars

Ron Taylor and Jeff Gillett sang The Soldiers Return From the Wars in 2006 on their WildGoose CD Both Shine as One. They noted:

A celebratory song, full of joy, anticipation (and wishful thinking) on the part of the soldiers. Learned from Dave Stephenson, although we didn’t know where he had found it. Roy Palmer was able to identify it as coming from Thomas D’Urfey’s Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719/1720 edition). He is not aware of any version of the song having been discovered in the oral tradition. This version also features an instrumental digression into Brighton Camp or The Girl I Left Behind Me.

The Claque sang The Soldiers Return From the Wars in 2008 on their WildGoose CD Sounding Now. They noted:

The Soldiers Return From the Wars is from the pen of Thomas D’Urfey in Pills to Purge Melancholy. What a girl will do for a man in uniform!

Lyrics

The Soldiers Return From the Wars, or the Maids and Widdows Rejoycing in Pills to Purge Melancholy (Vol. 6, pp. 324-5)

At the Change as I was walking,
I heard a Discourse of Peace;
The People all were a Talking,
That the tedious Wars will cease:
And if it do prove but true,
The Maids will run out of their Houses,
To see the Troopers all come Home,
And the Grenadiers with their Drum a Drum Drum,
Then the Widdows shall all have Spouses.

The Scarlet colour is fine, Sir,
All others it doth excel;
The Trooper has a Carbine, Sir,
That will please the Maidens well:
And when it is Cock’d and Prim’d, Sir,
The Maids will run out of their Houses,
To see the Troopers come come come, &c.

There’s Joan, and Betty, and Nelly,
And the rest of the Female Crew;
Each has an Itch in her Belly,
To play with the Scarlet hue:
And Marg’ret too must be peeping,
To see the Troopers, &c.

The Landladys are preparing,
Her Maids are shifting their Smocks;
Each swears she’ll buy her a Fairing,
And opens her Christmas-box:
She’ll give it all to the Red-coats,
When as the Troopers, &c.

Jenny she lov’d a Trooper,
And she shew’d her all her Gear;
Doll has turn’d off the Cooper,
And now for a Grenadier:
His hand Grenadoes they will please her,
When as the Troopers, &c.

Old musty Maids that have Money,
Although no Teeth in their Heads;
May have a Bit for their Bunny,
To pleasure them in their Beds:
Their Hearts will turn to the Red-coats,
When as the Troopers, &c.

The Widdows now are a Singing,
And have thrown their Peaks aside;
For they have been us’d to stinging,
When their Garters were unty’d:
But the Red-coats they will tye ’em,
When as the Troopers, &c.

Wives and Widdows and Maidens,
I’m sure this News will please ye;
If any with Maiden-heads laden,
The Red-coats they will ease ye:
Then all prepare to be happy,
To see the Troopers all come Home, &c.