The War-Like Lads Of Russia

When Napoleon Bonaparte to Moscow he went,
With all his troops and all his men, their minds were fully bent;
To take the Russian country they were fully employed,
But the Russians fought against them and they soon did them destroy.

Well, in a little while the Russians did attack,
'Gainst Bonaparte and all his men, they fought them and they drove them back;
The action being so hot, right and left and front and rear,
Oh, damn you all, says Bonaparte, I'll stay no longer here.

Those War-like lads of Russia, they fought all in one mind,
Made Bonaparte to run and leave his troops behind;
Those war-like lads of Russia, they fought all in one mind,
Made Bonaparte to run and leave his troops behind.

Away then went poor Bonaparte as fast as he could run,
The poor Frenchmen looking after him left horses, men and guns;
His boxes and his matches, ammunition wagons, too,
He left them all behind him, well what could poor Boney do?

Those war-like lads of Russia, they fought all in one mind,
Made Bonaparte to run and leave his troops behind;
Those war-like lads of Russia, they fought all in one mind,
Made Bonaparte to run and leave his troops behind.

Away then went poor Bonaparte as fast as he could ride,
The poor Frenchmen looking after him saying, oh it's very hard;
To think he'd lead us all up here and leave us to our fate,
You'd think he'd stop along with us and help us in our state.

Here's eighty thousand men, from 'em they've killed and they have taken,
Likewise, ten thousand horses and two hundred bits of cannon;
Never more to Leon, Paris or French Flanders they're advanced,
For if I do, I may be sure they'll teach me how to dance.

Now it's to conclude and thus to finish off me song,
Old Boney's men and Russia wish they had a hold of him;
The cruelest death they'd put him to that ever a man befell,
Oh, damn you all, says Bonaparte, I'm clear of you all.

####.... Variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad published by John Harkness (1806-1888) of Preston, Lancashire, UK ....####

Recorded by The Navigators (Dance And Sing, 2002 SOCAN)

See more songs by The Navigators.

British folk singer and guitarist, Nicolas (Nic) Paul Jones (b.1947) put a tune to this broadside (Folksound FS-100, 1974). Recorded on Unearthed - Nic Jones (Mollie Music, 2001).