> The Albion Band > Songs > The Scarlet and the Blue

The Scarlet and the Blue

[John Tams]

John Tams wrote this song for the play and Albion Band’s subsequent 1980 album Lark Rise to Candleford. Bill Caddick sang on the first and John Tams on the second verse, both playing the parts of retired soldiers.

Lyrics

Bill Caddick and John Tams sing The Scarlet and the Blue

I left me native country, I left me native home
To wear a soldier’s tunic and preserve the old Queen’s throne.
I travelled out to India, the mutiny to quell,
I have visited sweet Paradise and seen the gates of Hell.

Chorus:
When we wore the scarlet and the blue,
We took the old Queen’s shilling when the Empire days were new.
Forward into battle, don’t you hear the bugle call,
Raise the tattered standard, let me like a soldier fall

I’ve seen the Himalayas, I’ve been to Kathmandu,
Seen sights to dazzle Solomon, the tales I could tell you.
From Banbury to Bombay the good times have gone by
Now don’t believe the man who says old soldiers never die.

(Repeat chorus)