The Little Drummer Girl Was brought up in Yorkshire and when I was sixteen I ran away to London and a soldier I became Me white cap and feathers, likewise me rattling drum They learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dum With me gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small Could play upon the rub-a-dub the best of them all And many a world of fights me boys I saw out in the field And boldly I defied them all And I refused to yield In buttoning up me trousers while often I did smile To think I lay with a thousand men and a maiden all the while With me white cap and feathers, likewise me rattling drum They learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dum With me gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small Could play upon the rub-a-dub the best of them all They never found my secret out until this very hour They sent me up to London to be sentry at the Tower A lady fell in love with me found I was a maid She sent me to my officer and my secret she betrayed Well he unbuttoned my red tunic and he found out it was true ‘It's a shame,' he said, ‘to lose a pretty drummer boy like you' And now I must return and go it all alone Along with my old comrades no longer can I roam With me white cap and feathers, likewise me rattling drum They learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dum With me gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small Could play upon the rub-a-dub the best of them all With me fine cap and feathers, likewise me rattling drum They learned me to play upon the rub-a-dub-a-dum With me gentle waist so slender and my fingers long and small Could play upon the rub-a-dub the best of them all