My Old Shako

Transcript

I mind the day, my old Shacko, when first you grazed my head. What time I wore my cover patch, my spurs and jacket red. I mind the dainty little lass, whose cheeks were all aglow, when first you took a kiss from me.

Beneath my old Shacko, when first you took a kiss from me, beneath my old Shacko. Hey ho, many a year ago, we rode along together, you and I, my old Shacko. Hey, we turned the heads of half the pretty girls we used to know, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years ago.

I recollect my old Shacko, how once you saved my face. A gant was in my mane and I'd fight way back in fifty-eight, when bridle arm was hanging loose and my head looked fair to go. T'was then I thanked my lucky stars, I wore an old Shacko.

T'was then I thanked my lucky stars, I wore an old Shacko. Hey ho, many a year ago, we took out cars together, you and I, my old Shacko. Hey, we didn't care a button if the odds were on the pole, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years ago.

Hey ho, many a year ago, we took out cars together, you and I, my old Shacko. I'm wiping down my old Shacko, the call to leave work, where every beggar answers roll, but never a one comes back. Then let this be my epitaph whenever they lay me low, here lies a jolly light dragoon, full of his old Shacko, here lies a jolly light dragoon, full of his old Shacko.

Hey ho, hey old Ray Don't Know, here's a help to all the pretty girls we used to know, and here's to every soldier man who wore an old Shacko, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years ago.

Transcribed by AI from the recording above. These are noisy hundred-year-old cylinders, so expect misheard words and the occasional invented line — trust your ears over the text.