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The Baynit and the Butt

[words Rudyard Kipling, music Peter Bellamy]

The Baynit and the Butt is a Barrack Room Ballad verse at the beginning of the story The Three Musketeers in Rudyard Kipling’s book Plain Tales From the Hills (1888). Peter Bellamy recorded it in 1990 for his privately issued cassette Soldiers Three. This recording was also included in 2012 on the CD reissue of Peter Bellamy Sings the Barrack-Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling.

Lyrics

The Baynit and the Butt

And when the war began, we chased the bold Afghan,
An’ we made the bloomin’ Ghazi for to flee, boys O!
An’ we marched into Kabul, an’ we tuk the Balar ’Issar
An’ we taught ’em to respec’ the British Soldier.

Chorus:
Oh my, we made the beggar’s cut
When Tommy is a-playin’ with the baynit and the butt.