When I was on horseback wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork City
And met with my downfall
on the fourteenth of May
Six jolly soldiers to carry my coffin
Six jolly soldiers to march by my side
And it's six jolly soldiers
take a bunch of red roses
Then for to smell them as we march along
Beat the drum slowly and play the pipes only
Play up the dead march as we go along
And bring me to Tipperary
and lay me down easy
I am a young soldier that never done wrong
When I was on horseback wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork City
And met with my downfall
on the fourteenth of May